Whodunnit?
by vanhoose
Summary: All of the keepers come back from their 1st year of college to find that their former foe Greg Luowski was murdered. All seven of them have motive and were seen with Greg in his final 24 hours. The question haunting Agent Stanford and Agent McAlister is simple: whodunnit?
1. Seven Suspects

**Hey guys! I thought about this idea randomly and decided not to wait to start it.**

**Here's my second multi-chapter story. ****Enjoy!**

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Chapter 1: Seven Suspects

"You want me to go in _now_?" Agent Stanford said into the phone before letting out a huge, dramatic sigh. It was three in the morning. _What did I do to deserve this?_

"Yes, Agent Stanford. We need you to come into headquarters—and fast."

"May I ask what I'm being called in for at three in the morning?"

"You remember the murder investigation that was brought to you and your partner's attention two days ago?"

"Yes sir."

"The local police came up with seven names. We've brought them in and we'd like you to interrogate them."

"At three in the morning?"

"We can't hold them much longer without charging them, Agent Stanford. They're eighteen- and nineteen-years old and the 24 hours is almost up. Some of their parents have already called lawyers in. We need you to do a quick look on them. See if you can narrow down the field of suspects."

"Okay, boss. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Agent Stanford hung up the phone and started to get ready for work. The last thing he wanted to do was upset his boss, who seemed to already angry. _That must be a new record for him, being angry at three in the morning._

* * *

When Agent Stanford made it to headquarters, his partner Agent McAlister was waiting for him with two coffees in her hands.

"Morning Jake." Agent McAlister said with a smile. "I got you your favorite on my way in."

"Starbucks is open this early?"

"No…but the gas station is." She handed him a cup and raised hers for a toast. "To breaking our record?"

"What record are you talking about Alyssa?"

"I'm pretty sure this is the earliest we've been called in."

"You've got that right."

They both laughed as they tapped their cups of gas station coffee together. They both took a sip, not breaking eye contact.

"So, tell me Alyssa, what news of the seven suspects we just brought in?"

"All I know is that they all just finished their first year at college. They've all be in town for a few weeks now. All seven of them have been friends since eighth grade, but they went to four different schools."

"Anything else?"

"There's some definite tension between the group." She handed him the file. "You might want to read this before we go in there."

"Fun." He let out unenthusiastically while he took the file from her.

"Yeah. This group will be an _fun_ one alright."

"So am I going in there to talk, or are you?"

"You can start. I'll watch from the other side." Agent McAlister started walking to watching room. "Oh, and Jake?"

"Yeah Alyssa?"

"Don't forget the earpiece. I need to be able to talk to you while you're in there."

He did a mock salute. "You're the boss."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh shut it Stanford."

* * *

The seven kids were quickly ushered into the interrogation room. Once all of them had sat down in the chairs available, Agent Stanford began to talk.

"I'm sure you all know why you're here." The agent said as he sat down across the table. "My name is Agent Stanford and I'm the lead detective on this case."

"Can you tell us something we don't know?" The young African-American man retorted. _This one has to be Terry Maybeck_, Agent Stanford thought to himself. "Why don't you start with the crime we're being charge for? I'd love to know what crap you think we did."

"You can't hold us much longer without cause." The redheaded boy with the British accent added. "You'll have to tell us sooner or later."

Agent Stanford made a mental note to watch out for Dell Philby, for he seemed to know all of the laws. That could either be very bad or very good for the case.

"I'll tell you everything I know about this case so far." Agent Stanford leaned back in his chair and placed both of his hands behind his head. "But let's be civil here. I told you my name, how about you tell me yours."

One of the girls at the end began. "I'm Am—"

The boy next to her put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Why do we have to tell you our names? You already know them."

"Because, _Finn Whitman_, I was giving you a chance to be honest with me. Heaven forbid any of you be honest." Agent Stanford rolled his eyes.

"Can you please just tell us what we've been charged with, Mr. Agent Stanford, sir?" The girl with the brown hair asked quietly. Agent Stanford tried to remember her name: Isabel Angelo, but she went by a nickname—one that he couldn't remember at the moment.

Agent Stanford looked back to the window behind him. The window looked like a mirror, but there were people on the other side that could see and hear everything that was happening in the interrogation room. He knew his partner, Agent McAlister, was on the other side and he pointed to his earpiece.

A few seconds later, he heard her voice. "Go ahead. They need to know. I'd watch out for those boys, though. They seem to know a lot more then they're showing. And they're very defensive."

Agent Stanford nodded and turned back to the seven teenagers and opened up the file lying on the table in front of him.

"Normally FBI agents don't get put on simple murder cases, but this one is…well…different."

"Murder?" The girl with blonde hair and blue eyes shrieked. _What's her name…Charlotte? _The agent glanced down at the file. _No, Charlene._

"How so?" The last girl, presumably Jess, said in a small, but determined voice. It could have just been Agent Stanford, but she looked like she was out of it. She was absentmindedly moving her right hand. _That could be because it's three a.m. A nervous habit maybe?_

Agent Stanford shook those thoughts and continued on.

"Because, Jessica Lockhart, this body wasn't found in a dumpster, or an alley, or in someone's backyard." He put his elbows on the table and leaned on them. "It was found in the underground trash system at Magic Kingdom. I presume you seven know what I'm talking about."

The agent watched as the girls' faces showed shock, confusion and horror. The three boys lacked emotions, as if they did not care. Agent Stanford made a mental note to remember that. First reactions to the news can be important.

"Now Disney called in a few special agents from the FBI to solve this case." He looked down at the official police report filed when the body was found. He wanted to make sure he got the wording correct.

"The body was found with three stab wounds: one in the left shoulder, another in the right upper thigh, and the third was in the center of his chest, right in the heart.

"The toxicology report showed some kind of drugs in his system, but forensics hasn't identified it yet. His body had been in the trash system for about three to four days before it was found by one of the janitorial staff of Magic Kingdom.

"Right now, police officers are trying to figure out where the boy was killed and who killed him. Which brings us back to the purpose of all of you being here."

Agent Stanford closed the file and looked up at the seven, making eye contact with each of them before continuing.

"The boy's name was Greg Luowski, and all seven of you are suspects in our murder investigation."

* * *

**Hmm...so what do y'all think? And please be honest! Do you want me to continue on this one? Any ideas on whodunnit?****  
**

**Please review (or P.M.) and tell me what you think! I want to know if y'all like this story. If you don't, I won't continue. But if you do, which I hope you do (but if you don't I understand), I'll keep going! I've got some good ideas for this story. ********Don't worry, if I do continue this story, most of the chapters will be a lot longer than this one**

**For those of you who have been reading my other multi-chapter story (Fighting For All That's Good), I haven't given up on that one! I'm going to attempt a balancing act between the two.**

**So anyway, enough of me ranting! Review-or don't-and have a great day!**


	2. Maybeck I

**Okay the masses have spoken! Y'all want more...and I, being the nice person that I am, have decided to write the second chapter in less than 24 hours-just for you!**

**Just as an FYI, for this story, there's going to be a _lot_ of references to the 6 KK books...so not only is it entertaining, suspenseful and mysterious, you also get a reminder of things that have happened (which is awesome since the 7th book is waaaay too far away)!**

**I won't keep y'all any longer! Here's chapter 2 :)**

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Chapter 2: Terry Maybeck I-1st Interrogation

"Okay wise guy. Let's talk." Agent Stanford announced as he walked back into the interrogation room. This time only one person was there: Terry Maybeck.

According to the police that brought him in, he's a handful who won't shut up. His record's clean, but his grades aren't so great. He lives with his aunt who owns a pottery shop. _So a rebellious artsy kind of guy_, Jake thought. _This should be interesting._

"So tell me, Terry—may I call you Terry?"

"Call me whatever you want. I don't care." Terry crossed his arms.

"Okay, Terry it is then. So Terry, when was the last time you saw Greg?"

"Four days ago."

"And what would you say was your encounter like?"

"He walked into my aunt's shop."

"Did you talk to him?"

* * *

_"DONNIE! There's a boy out here wanting to talk to you!" Jelly yelled from the store. Terry stood up from his breakfast of Captain Crunch cereal and walked over to her._

_He froze when he saw Greg Luowski talking to his aunt. His eyes were just as green as the last time he saw him on the cruise. Terry walked over to Greg and pushed him up against the nearest wall._

_"What are you doing here?" _

_"Man, I just came to talk!"_

_"You have no business coming in here! You better leave before I punch your face in!"_

_"DONNIE!" His aunt yelled, but Terry didn't listen._

_"Whoa bro. I just want to talk."_

_Terry pushed him harder. "Well I'd start talking if I were you."_

_Greg rolled his eyes. "Somewhere privately, if you don't mind."_

_Terry and Greg had a staring contest, neither of them wanting to back down. Terry took one glance back at his aunt and took a deep breath._

_"Fine." He let go of Greg, who hurried back to the back room. _

_"If you hear anything, call the cops." Terry whispered to his aunt before walking back to meet Greg._

_"I see this place hasn't changed much." Greg said in a reminiscing voice as soon as Terry came into the backroom. He noticed his breakfast was still waiting for him on the table and his stomach growled._

_"Why are you here Greg?"_

_"Simple. I wanted to see how my old pal's doing. It's been way too long, Maybeck." _

_Something about his smile sent chills running up Terry's spine._

_"Oh yeah. Been missing you man. Let me tell ya." Terry took a few steps toward Greg. He figured taking the offense would be better in this situation than to wait for Greg to attack. "Not having to fight you is about as bad as not breathing. I've missed that ugly green fairy messing with me. You know, the good old days." _

_"She may be gone, Maybeck, but I'm still here." _

_"Is that supposed to scare me?" Terry took another step closer. He was ready to strike at a moment's notice._

_"I would be scared if I were you. Your aunt probably can't handle another taser, now can she?" _

_Greg put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a taser and Terry's eyes went wide. _

_"You wouldn't dare!"_

_"You see, Maybeck," Greg took a step forward, causing Terry to step back—unless he wanted to be zapped. Unfortunately for Greg, getting zapped by a taser was_ not_ on his to-do list today and Terry had _no_ intention of adding it. "I didn't get the pleasure of using this taser last time I was here. That little rat beat me to it. Now, I get the satisfaction of finishing what I started."_

_"Whoa dude," Terry took another step back with every step Greg took forward. "That was, what…four years ago? Dude, you hold a serious grudge!"_

_"You think you're so funny don't you?"_

_"I don't think so…I _know_ I am." _

_"Really now? Let's see how funny you are when I use this!" Greg lunged forward, taser in hand, but Terry was faster. He grabbed his hand and twisted it backwards, causing the taser to fall. _

_Terry pulled Greg's arm around his back and pushed his face up against the wall. _

_"I'd leave here right now and never come back. If you come back here, you're a dead man. You here me?"_

_"Yeah, yeah. Of course!" _

_Terry held him there for a few seconds before letting go. _

_Greg reached for his taser, but Terry stepped on his hand. "That's mine now."_

_Greg scrambled up and ran out of the backdoor._

* * *

"Yeah, you could say we talked."

"Hmm…interesting." Agent Stanford leaned back in his chair.

"Can I go now? This is boring." Maybeck leaned back in his chair, mocking the agent.

"You can go when I get some _actual_ information from you."

"I'm an open book. Ask me whatever you want." Something about Terry's wily grin made Agent Stanford think he had something to hide.

"Alright. How long did you know Greg?"

"We met back in ninth grade."

"And how did you meet?"

"He's the local bully of Orlando. Everybody had their run in with him eventually."

"Did he bully you?"

"Heck no!" Except he didn't say heck.

"Then what do you mean by your previous statement?"

"Everybody knows who he is. He and I became _personally_ acquainted with each other back in ninth grade."

"What do you mean by _personally acquainted_?"

"He came by to my aunt's shop."

Agent Stanford nodded and studied Terry Maybeck. He looked like he knew more than he was letting on—but so did all of suspects.

Agent Stanford tapped his earpiece with his finger, signaling his partner for any questions she might have. He took a sip of coffee while he waited.

He heard some static before she began to speak.

"Ask him if he had ever fought with Greg."

"So Terry, tell me…did you and Greg ever fight?"

Terry shrugged. "Once or twice."

Agent McAlister continued. "What were they fighting over?"

"What were the fights about?"

Terry shrugged again. "He threatened me and my friends."

"What kind of threats?" Agent Stanford asked him.

"The usual ones, I guess. He said if I didn't back off they would hurt me and my friends."

_They?_ Jake wondered. _Who is he referring to?_

Agent Stanford heard some shuffling of papers through the earpiece. He figured his partner was flipping through the same file he had in front of him.

"Ask him if his aunt was ever threatened," Agent McAlister said through the earpiece, the excitement in her voice made him wonder what she had found.

"You mentioned your friends…what about your aunt?" He asked Terry.

Terry immediately went from being laid-back to full-on defensive.

"You can't bring my aunt into this! She has nothing to do with this!"

"She does, Jake." Agent McAlister said. "Don't listen to him."

"Yeah she does, Terry." Agent Stanford leaned forward. "Tell me why there's a connection between your aunt and Greg in our files."

"There isn't one."

"But my partner begs to differ."

"Your partner's grasping at straws. My aunt has nothing to do with that idiot Luowski." Terry crossed his arms, probably so that he didn't attack—an action Agent Stanford was grateful for.

"Look at page eight of his file, Jake." Agent McAlister voiced through the earpiece.

Agent Stanford flipped to page eight and read a police report from four years ago.

"It says here, Terry, that your aunt was sent to the hospital when two kids ran into her shop with tasers. Only one taser was fired and it hit your aunt."

"That has nothing to do with Greg."

"Does it now?" Agent Stanford turned the file around and shoved it toward Terry. "It says here that you reported Greg as one of those two boys."

Terry stared down at the file and mumbled something incoherent.

"Want to explain this?"

Terry looked up at Agent Stanford with a fire in his eyes that wasn't there before. He was obviously still mad about the incident. _A possible motive for murder?_

"There's nothing to explain." Terry muttered under his breath.

"Alright, I think we're done here." Agent Stanford got up, walked out of the room and threw up two fingers—his signal to Agent McAlister to meet him at his desk in two minutes.

* * *

"What do you think about Terry Maybeck?" She asked as she read the file of the next suspect.

"I think he's got motive."

She looked up from the file and eyed him suspiciously. "Do you think he's the murderer?"

"I don't know. There's something fishy going on with that kid."

"I think there's something fishy with _all_ murderers, if you ask me."

"It says here in his file that his aunt was zapped by a taser four years ago and that Greg was one of the two boys who were in on it." Jake looked up at Alyssa. "Why would two young boys attack his aunt? He said him and his friends were constantly threatened back by _them_. What does that mean?"

"Maybe they were being bullied?"

Jake shook his head. "No, it seems more intense than that."

"Bullying can be intense these days Jake."

Jake wasn't convinced. Alyssa went back to reading her file.

After a few minutes of silence, a police officer came up to them.

"Agent McAlister, the next suspect is in interrogation room A when you're ready."

"Thank you officer. I'll be there in a minute."

The officer nodded and walked away.

"Here's her file Jake. It's quite the interesting one." Alyssa handed the girl's file to Jake. "If you have any questions you want me to ask, you know how to reach me." She winked at him and left.

He put the girl's file down and continued to look at Terry Maybeck's files for clues. He couldn't help but feel that there was something off about him. Jake couldn't shake the feeling that there was some bigger power at play here—and it wasn't bullying. To Jake, Greg seemed like a puppet to some kind of bigger group.

"JAKE! Let's go!" Alyssa yelled from across the station.

Jake jumped up, grabbed the girl's file and headed off toward interrogation room B. He decided to push the conspiracy theories aside for now. They had so much work to do—and it was only four in the morning.

* * *

**Alrighty! There's chapter 2! Please review! I love reading them! I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can!**


	3. Amanda I

**So I made a mistake, as pointed out to me by **loveliveLOL **with regards to Maybeck's intelligence. I apologize for that, but in my defense I was referring to his college grades that weren't so great. That doesn't necessarily mean bad, it just doesn't mean A's. But I'd still like to apologize for the mistake. Sorry about that, truly.**

**So anyway, here's the next chapter (hopefully no mistakes this time)!**

* * *

Chapter 3: Amanda Lockhart I-1st Interrogation

"Alright, Miss Lockhart, how are you this fine morning?" Agent McAlister asked as she walked into the room and sat down.

"Fine," Amanda whispered. To Agent McAlister she seemed nervous and on-edge. At first glance, she didn't seem like a murderer, but that could just be a trick.

"So, Miss Lockhart, how long have you lived in Orlando?"

"Since eighth grade."

"And where did you live before that?"

"Maryland."

"And why did you move from Maryland all the way down here? That's a very long trip!"

"My sister and I…uh…ran away."

Agent McAlister glanced down at the file and saw that she was telling the truth so far. _Alright, time to bring in the hard questions._

"So, Amanda, what about Greg? It says here you two went to school together. Did you know him very well?"

"I wouldn't exactly say we were friends…he…uh…bullied my boyfriend."

"And who is your boyfriend?"

"Finn Whitman."

"Ah, of course. Did Greg ever bully you?"

"He kind of liked me…" Amanda looked down at the table, as if she was ashamed of something. Agent McAlister made a mental note of that.

"Did you ever like him back?"

Amanda snapped her attention back to Agent McAlister with a confused look on her face.

"Don't worry, Amanda, I won't tell your boyfriend. Everything you tell me about him will stay between us and Agent Stanford."

_A little white lie never hurt anyone, _Agent McAlister thought to herself the second she said that.

Amanda seemed to relax a little. "No I didn't…but that never really stopped him."

Agent McAlister studied Amanda and saw the fear in her eyes. _Something went on between those two, but what?_

"What do you mean by that Amanda?"

* * *

_Amanda put her car in park and started taking out the groceries. She glanced down at her watch and saw that it was _2:35 P.M. _Her sister, Jess, wouldn't be home for another hour or so._

_Once Amanda had gotten all of the groceries inside the apartment, she realized she had left her keys in her car. _

_On the way there, she debated whether or not to call Finn. He wouldn't be coming into town until 5, but it had been a long week and she couldn't wait to hear his voice. _

_Amanda knew that when Finn went off to college in Tallahassee that their relationship would have some hardships. Some weeks were easier than others. But he couldn't come home the last two weeks due to car trouble and finals and Amanda missed him terribly._

_She reached her car and grabbed the keys. After slamming the door shut, she turned around to see Greg Luowski standing in between her car and he apartment._

_"Greg? What are you doing here?"_

_"Oh Amanda, that's no way to greet an old friend!"_

_The fact that Greg considered them old friends made Amanda laugh. "We were never friends Greg, and you know that."_

_"Yes, unfortunately you're right. But I'd love to change that." He winked at her and Amanda noticed his green eyes. The thought of him still being under the evil queen's spell sent chills down her spine. _

_"Well it was nice to see you again, Greg, but I've got to go. Finn will be coming back soon and I told him I would make him some dinner…so…"_

_Amanda tried to walk past him, but Greg grabbed her shoulder._

_"So you and Finn are playing house now? That's just precious."_

_"He's just coming home from college and he's spending his first night here. Now I'd leave before he gets here if you had any brains left."_

_"Me? Scared of Whitless?" Greg laughed. "Now that's funny."_

_Amanda struggled to get away from Greg's grip. "Let go of me."_

_"Oh come on Amanda. Leave Whitless and come with me."_

_"Let go!"_

_"Do you want me to tell him all about what happened back in eighth grade? You want me to tell him what happened when you left Orlando for those few months after you got your stupid sister back? What was her name? Oh...I remember now_...Jezebel. _Do you think Whitless can _handle_ knowing what you did? Why you couldn't go back to Maryland?"_

_Amanda's eyes went wide. "How do you know about that?"_

_"I've learned a few things about the seven of you. Turns out Maleficent knows just about everything."_

_"But she's dead!"_

_"_Is_ she?"_

_Amanda took a step back and stepped on his foot. "Get away from me Greg! And don't even think about coming back!"_

_When he didn't move, she slapped him across the face. _

_"LEAVE!"_

_Greg smirked and walked down the sidewalk. Amanda watched and made sure he kept walking away before storming back into her apartment._

* * *

"He…uh…stopped by my apartment a few days ago."

"Did he ask you out?"

"What would make you say that?" Agent McAlister could tell that Amanda was flustered by that question. Which meant that something like that did occur, but Amanda did not want to talk about it.

"Nothing, I was just curious."

A moment of silence followed. Agent McAlister flipped through Amanda's file, trying to find something worth asking.

"Ask her why her file says she left school for a few months back in eighth grade. That report looks sketchy." Agent Stanford talked into her earpiece. Agent McAlister turned around and looked back the two-sided mirror with a confused face.

"Page three dummy," Agent Stanford whispered.

Agent McAlister turned back to the file and turned to page three. In the report was a written excuse by a social worker to Amanda's middle school.

In the report it stated that she had run away from Orlando with her sister, only to return a few months later. They were squatting in an abandoned church until the first week of summer when the social worker found them and took them to a foster home.

"It says here that you and your sister disappeared from school for a few months back in eighth grade. Care to explain that?"

"We were headed back to Maryland," Amanda paused, shifting awkwardly in her chair, "But then we got...uh...sidetracked...and then came back."

"Got sidetracked?"

"Yeah."

"What does that mean?"

Amanda was silent for a second, but when she opened her mouth to speak a police officer stormed into the room.

"Agent McAlister, we've got some new evidence that's come in."

"Is it important enough to interrupt our interrogation?"

"Trust me, you're going to want to see this."

"Go with him, Alyssa." Agent Stanford said into her ear. "We're not going to get anything else out of her right now."

Agent McAlister nodded and excused herself from the room.

When she got to her desk, she saw an black evidence bag laying there.

"What's inside?" Agent Stanford asked from behind, causing her to jump.

"Jake!" Agent Stanford burst into laughter, causing Agent McAlister to slap him. "That's not funny!"

"Sure it is Alyssa! Now open the evidence bag! I want to see what it is!"

Agent McAlister rolled her eyes. "You're like a little kid on Christmas."

"I'm taking that as a compliment!"

"Oh save it Jake." Agent McAlister sat down at her desk, pulled on some latex gloves and opened the evidence bag.

Inside was a long butcher knife. It had dried blood on the tip. There was also a dried green substance sticking to the handle.

"Do you think it's the murder weapon?" Agent Stanford asked her.

"I'm assuming it is, since its here. Why else would they bring it in?"

"Not sure." Agent Stanford leaned forward and grabbed a note that was sticking out of the bag. "Says here it was found in an alleyway behind the Frozen Marble."

"Where's that?"

"Heck if I know! I'm not from around here."

Agent McAlister snatched the note out of Agent Stanford's hands. "Well then go find out while I take the next suspect."

"How come I have to do the boring stuff?" Agent Stanford crossed his arms and pouted like a little kid.

"'Cause I said so. I'd head over there too, see if you can find anything else. That alleyway is probably the crime scene. We could use some more clues. Anything could help us narrow down the suspects."

"It's just a bloody knife. How do we know it's the one that killed Greg?"

"Because, stupid. It says they have fingerprint matches."

"Do they match any of the suspects?"

Agent McAlister looked down at the note. _Surely, this can't be right!_

"Why the confused look Alyssa?"

"Because…" Agent McAlister looked up at her partner. "The fingerprints matched six of our suspects."

* * *

**Hmm...which suspect doesn't have their fingerprints on the knife? **

**I guess we'll see in chapters to come!**

**Please review! I love reading them. I want to hear what y'all think about this story so far! **


	4. Willa I

**Sorry about taking so long to update! I was updating my other multi-chapter (Fighting For All That's Good). Here's chapter 4!**

**Oh and to answer the "guest" who asked me who my favorite character was...honestly, I like them all. Is that an acceptable answer? But if I had to pick, I guess it'd be a tie between Finn and Willa. Finn because he's epic in every way possible. Enough said. Willa? Because she's so lovable! There are many more reasons, but I'll keep it short and sweet.**

**Speaking of Willa, here's chapter 4!**

* * *

Chapter 4: Willa Angelo I-1st Interrogation

"Good morning, Miss Angelo. How are you?" Agent McAlister asked Willa as she sat down in her chair in the interrogation room.

"Besides being arrested for murder I didn't commit, I'd have to say it's going pretty well."

Agent McAlister couldn't help but let out a laugh at Willa's sarcasm. "Well, we'll see about you not being the murderer." She opened the file and started flipping through the pages. "How did you know Greg?"

"He was bullying Finn."

"Did you ever see him in person?"

"From a distance, yes."

"What about other means of communication…say…email?"

Willa hung her head in shame. _She's either putting up a good act or she's very transparent._

"Yes."

"What did you two email each other about?"

"I'm sure you've got those emails right there in that folder."

"I might." Agent McAlister leaned back in her chair. Humor me anyway."

Willa took a deep breath. "He was blackmailing me."

"About what?"

"Nothing that has to do with his murder, I promise."

Agent McAlister was taken back by Willa's defensive side. She was definitely hiding something—but what?

"Alright, well, let's move on then. When was the last time you say Greg?"

"The night he died."

"Really? And how did that encounter go down?"

* * *

_Willa knew she shouldn't be here. Alleys are sketchy enough during the day, but at night, with Greg Luowski—she was asking for bad things to happen._

_He had told her that if she wanted him to keep her secret she would have to meet him here with two thousand dollars in cash at 11 P.M._

_It was 10:59 P.M. and Willa was scared. She figured this wasn't going to work out well for her._

_"You're early sweetheart," Greg's deep voice said from behind her._

_Willa jumped and turned around. "Greg! Don't do that! This place is scary enough!"_

_"Somebody scared?" He mocked her. "Want me to go call Spencer so you can feel safe again? Or Philby so I can tell him what you did?" _

_He crosses his arms and waited for her answer. _

_"I…I…you…you just stop! Here's the money, now leave me alone!" Willa shoved the bag of cash toward him. "And don't tell anyone about what you found out about me."_

_"You sure? That secret is _so_ juicy."_

_"You've got your cash. I'm leaving." Willa started walking past Greg, but he caught her and threw her onto the ground. She scratched her arm on something unseen and let out a little cry of pain. She glanced over at her arm and saw a small amount of blood escape off of her arm and fall onto the ground._

_"I don't think so."_

_"We had a deal, Greg!"_

_"Yes we did, but I have some…_conditions." _He stood over her with an evil smile. Willa did _not_ like where this was going._

_"You didn't mention anything else," Willa's voice suddenly weak and almost nonexistent._

_"I didn't'? How that's a shame…"_

_Willa had never been so scared in her life._

* * *

"It…it…it was…not the usual encounter."

"What do you mean by that?"

At first, Willa was silent. Her eyes closed and her breathing was slow. It was obvious to Agent McAlister that she was trying to get rid of a horrible memory. _Something traumatic had happened. Is she the killer?_

"You're going to find my blood at the crime scene," Willa whispered.

"And why would we find it?"

"Because…because I met Greg there the night he died. He pushed me and I fell and I scraped my arm." Willa wiped a few tears off of her cheeks. "I promise he was still alive when I left."

Agent McAlister let Willa compose herself before continuing.

"Is that all we're going to find there, is a little bit of your blood?"

"No."

"If I was to head over there right now, what would I find Willa?"

"Can I ask you a question first?"

Agent McAlister was a little taken back by that. None of the suspects ever asked her questions. "Uh…I guess so."

"What was Greg wearing when you found him?"

Agent McAlister studied Willa. She wasn't sure why she would ask this, but she wanted to know. "A green t-shirt and boxers. Why?"

Willa's face drained of color. "I was the last person to see him alive…besides the killer of course."

"What do you mean by that?"

* * *

_"Greg! Get off of me!" Willa said as she struggled against him. She knew he was taller than her and a lot of stronger than her._

_Then it hit her: he had brought a knife with him—and laid it down on the ground not too far away from her. _

_She blindly reached with her right hand, searching for the knife. She didn't plan on actually using it, she just wanted to threaten him._

_"Why the long face baby doll? You're not enjoying this?" He asked her in a mocking tone. He leaned in to kiss her neck._

_He _knew_ she wasn't enjoying this. She took advantage of him not being able to see and started reaching. Eventually she felt the sharp blade with her fingers. She wrapped her fingers around the blade and hit Greg in the shoulder with the handle._

_In his moment of hesitation, she scrambled to her feet and held the knife out in his direction._

_"Don't come anywhere near me!"_

_"Whoa! Where'd you get that?" Greg looked ridiculous in his boxers. _

_Willa rolled her eyes. _Boys can be so stupid sometimes._ "You put it on the ground when you took off your pants, remember?"_

_"Well, just put it down. We don't want you to do something you'll regret."_

_"You don't want _me_ to do something I'll regret? Maybe you should have thought about that before you came here tonight!"_

_Willa took a step forward. "You can keep the cash, but if you ever, and I mean _ever, _tell my secret I will use this!"_

_She stood still for a few minutes, making sure that Greg got her message: she was _not _someone you wanted to mess with. _

_"I'm going to leave now. Don't even think of following me." Willa dropped the knife at Greg's feet before leaving. _

* * *

_"_When I left him he was only wearing his boxers and a green t-shirt. And you said he died that night. It was very late when we were there."

Willa wiped a few more tears from her cheek.

"Interesting. We'll keep that in mind."

Agent McAlister wrote down a few notes on the blank page in Willa's file.

"You might want to add that I picked up the knife that he had with him that night. It was a long butcher knife."

Agent McAlister's attention snapped up to Willa. "You picked up the murder weapon? But didn't kill him?"

"Yes! I swear!"

"Interesting…"

"I swear I didn't kill him! I left him there and went over to spend the night with Jess! She can tell you when you talk to her! And Amanda was there too! I have an alibi! I didn't kill—"

Agent McAlister threw up a hand to stop her. "I've heard enough."

"But—"

"I've got some other things to do with this investigation. We'll be in touch."

Agent McAlister closed the folder and started to head out of the room.

"Wait, Agent McAlister?"

She turned to face Willa. "Yes?"

"When do I get to go home? As much as I love sitting in a police station at four in the morning, I'd love to be able to go home."

Agent McAlister gave her a smile. Willa seemed like an innocent, little girl. She couldn't possibly be a murderer—but her story didn't add up. She just admitted to her fingerprints being on the blade and her blood being at the scene. She also told her that she saw Greg very late the night he died. Her story seemed sketchy, there had to be some kind of evidence that could prove this little girl innocent.

"I'll see what I can do," Agent McAlister said before leaving the room.

* * *

_Five Hours Later…_

"How did you get them to let us go home?" Philby asked Willa. They were currently sitting on the porch swing on his front porch. It was only nine in the morning, but both of them were wide awake.

Getting arrested at two in the morning did that to a person.

Willa shrugged. "I just asked her and she said she'd see what she could do."

"I overheard some of the officers talking on the way out. They were talking about how there were six set of fingerprints on the murder weapon."

"Six? That's an awful lot." Willa stared at her hands. She knew her fingerprints were on the knife, but five others? One had to be Greg's…so who were the other five?

"I could have sworn they said it was six of us."

Willa turned to face Philby with a confused look on her face."Six of _us_ touched the blade?"

"Apparently."

"That doesn't make any sense! None of us killed him. Right?"

"I didn't do it and you didn't do it. Finn's the only one that's got motive as far as I know."

Willa punched him in the arm. "Philby!"

"What? I'm just looking at it from their point of view!"

Willa gave him a disapproving look. "Finn didn't kill Greg!"

"I know, I'm just trying to see where they're coming from!"

Willa took a deep breath and turned to look at the sidewalk.

"They probably think I did it," she whispered.

"What?" Philby turned to her and wrapped an arm around her. "That's not true!"

"I didn't do it, but I was there…with Greg…that night…"

"Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Because nothing happened."

"Willa, tell me the truth, please. What did you tell them?"

"I was there because Greg asked to meet me. We were there and he pulled out the knife that turned out to be the murder weapon and threw it on the ground."

Willa watched as Philby turned his gaze from her to his lap.

"He…uh…attacked me later and I grabbed the knife. But I swear I didn't stab him. I just held it in between us so he would…stop…"

Philby took a few deep breaths. Willa figured he was processing all that she had just said. She could see the gears moving in his head while he thought. Eventually he clenched his fists and spoke.

"What do you mean he attacked you?"

"Well…I think you know what I mean…" Willa, out of shame, looked over toward the front door, away from Philby.

"That douche!"

Willa snapped her attention back to Philby. He _never_ called anyone a douche. Emphasis on _never_.

"What?"

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier, Willa? He hurt you Willa!" He turned to face her. "Wait…why were you meeting him in the first place?"

Willa held back tears. The whole reason she had met Greg was so that he would never find out her dirty, little secret.

"He just wanted to meet up."

"And you went anyway? No questions asked?"

"It's complicated, Philby."

Willa felt Philby studying her as she stared at her feet. A few tears ran down her cheek but she didn't stop them. They were like this for at least a minute before he cleared his throat.

"Okay then."

"I'm sorry Philby. I would tell you, it's just—"

He cut her off by kissing her on the cheek. "I trust you, Willa," he whispered into her ear. "If you want to tell me, I'm here. If you don't, I understand. Just know that you can trust me with anything."

"I know. Now's just not the time. If that makes any sense." Willa leaned her head on his shoulder.

"It does," Philby said before kissing the top of her head.

* * *

_Three Hours After Willa's Interrogation…_

"Hey Jake, find anything over there at the crime scene?" Alyssa asked her partner, phone to her ear. She was currently eating a late breakfast. Well, it was only 7 A.M., which would be a normal breakfast time for a normal person, but she's been up since 3 A.M. It's a late breakfast.

"So far not too much, but they're still searching." Alyssa heard Jake talk to a third person on the other side of the phone and snacked on a biscuit while she waited for them to finish.

"Sorry about that Alyssa. We've got some blood and his pants. But other than that, no."

"How much blood?"

"Well that's interesting. Turns out there's blood in three different places."

"What?"

"There's a tiny amount in the far end of the alley, then one of the forensics guys found that the trashcan lid was splattered with blood, but the kicker is that there's a ton of blood splattered on the wall. It looks like a gun went off. It's weird."

"Why is that the kicker?"

"Because the wall was cleaned…recently. The only reason we found the blood was because one of the forensics guys waved their UV light on it by accident."

"If it was cleaned, that means we can't test it for a match."

"Okay, Captain Obvious. Tell me something I don't know." Alyssa rolled her eyes and Jake continued. "They're bringing the blood samples of the other two back for testing. Some of the forensics guys are trying to find some blood on the wall that they can test, but it doesn't look good."

"Alright. Anything else?"

"Nope. How's the interrogations going?"

"I got Willa Angelo to tell me some stuff. One of those two blood samples are hers. She also admitted to holding the knife, but said she left Greg alive."

"Why would she tell you that? It makes her look like the murderer."

"I don't think it's her. Something happened between the two of them, but it wasn't killing."

"What about the others? I left you three hours ago. Who else did you talk to?"

"Nobody yet. I sent them home for a few hours while forensics runs test on evidence."

"When are you going to call them back in? We only talked to three of them!"

"The remaining four have got times they're required to come in. I figured they could get some sleep. They were taking up too much space here at the station."

"Gotcha. What time is the next one coming in?"

"I've got Dell Philby at noon and Charlene Turner right after him. _You've_ got Jess and Finn at two."

"Fine," Jake mumbled. She knew that he hated interrogating suspects, especially when they were as young as these seven.

"It's only seven in the morning, Jake. We've got a full day ahead of us."

"Yeah, I know." He complained. "I've got to go, I'll call you if I find anything new. You do the same alright?"

"Sure thing. See you back here." Alyssa hung up and put her phone down on her desk. She opened up Dell Philby's file and began to read. She wanted to be fully prepared for her next two interrogations.

* * *

**Hmm...we still don't know who's fingerprints aren't on the knife...interesting...**

**Let me know what you think! Please review! I love reading them! I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as I can! Enjoy your Labor Day weekend! :)**


	5. Philby I

**Sorry for taking so long to update! I was finishing off my other story "Fighting For All That's Good." But now that one's done, so I can focus on this one! **

**Here's chapter 5! I hope you enjoy! :)**

* * *

Chapter 5: Dell Philby I-1st Interrogation

"Alright Dell Philby, did you enjoy your time at home?" Agent McAlister said as she sat down in front of the red headed boy. She opened up the file and saw a yellow post-it that had Jake's handwriting on it.

All that was written were two words: fingerprints matched.

"Fine, I guess. I don't know how much you can enjoy life when you're being accused of a murder you didn't commit."

"So, Dell—"

"I go by my last name, Agent McAlister."

"So, _Philby_, when was the last time you saw Greg?"

"He stopped by my house the morning of the day that he died."

"Were you two friends?"

"Not necessarily," Philby's face turned sour. _So there's some bad blood here,_ Agent McAlister thought to herself.

"Greg was notorious for bullying, were you one of his victims?"

"No."

"Then why did he stop by your house?"

* * *

DING-DONG!

_Philby put the last pancake on the plate and placed the pan into the sink. He hurried to the front door and opened it-expecting Willa. _She's a little earlier than usual,_ he thought to himself._

_He froze when he saw Greg Luowski there._

_"What are you doing here Greg?"_

_"I thought I'd stop by, for old times sake." Greg pushed past Philby and walked into the living room. "It's different seeing your house when it's not dark."_

_"Why are you here Greg?"_

_"Just stopping by Philby. That's all."_

_Philby crossed his arms and gave Greg a look that screamed _don't-play-games-with-me.

_"Fine!" Greg threw up his hands in defeat. "I'm here to warn you about that girlfriend of yours."_

_"Willa? What are you talking about?"_

_"Dude, she's totally cheating on you."_

_"You're lying," Philby already hated Greg enough. He did _not_ need him spreading lies about Willa._

_"Dude, you two go to two different colleges. What did you expect?"_

_"Our colleges are in the same city. I see her just about every day."_

_"But when you leave, she's _obviously_ got somebody to keep her company." Greg gave Philby a devious grin—which made Philby even _more_ sure that he was making this up. _

_"Stop lying to me, Greg."_

_"I'm not! I saw her with some other guy when I was on campus last semester."_

_"You? Going to college? Ha! That's hilarious."_

_"I was taking a girl home after a party, idiot. I'm headed to the army in a few weeks. I don't have time for stupid college."_

_"So you were probably drunk when you 'saw Willa with another guy?' That makes your story so much more reliable."_

_"Make jokes all you want Philby," Greg moved past him and started walking toward the kitchen. "But I saw what I saw. His name was…oh goodness what was it…umm…Stephen…Sam….no," Greg turned to look at Philby. "It was Spencer."_

_Philby felt the color drain from his face. Willa had mentioned Spencer being at the same school as her. But she would never cheat on him—not with that jerk. _

_"You're lying."_

_"Believe what you want, Philby, but I've got proof."_

_Philby watched as Greg took a pancake off of the plate and ate it. _

_"Proof? Show me." Philby grabbed the plate and put on the dining table, keeping it away from Greg. _

_"Alright, you asked for it." Greg fished his phone out of his pocket and sifted through it for a few seconds. Eventually he found what he was looking for and placed it on the counter, pushing it toward Philby. "See for yourself."_

_Philby picked up the phone and saw a picture of Spencer and Willa kissing. He couldn't see Willa's face, but he was pretty sure it was her. Philby's heart dropped in his chest. _There's got to be some kind of mistake here_, he thought to himself. _I'll just ask her about it when she comes over later_._

_"Ah, so the perfect girl ain't so perfect anymore."_

_"Get out of my house, Greg. You're spreading lies. Willa would never cheat on me."_

_"Then explain that picture to me genius."_

_"Spencer's had a thing for her since high school. Of course he's going to take the chance to kiss her while I'm gone. Doesn't mean she kissed him back."_

_"You're right, Philby. But the pregnancy test proves she did a _lot_ more than kiss him back."_

_"Where are you getting this from? A pregnancy test? Really, Greg? You're just grasping at straws now."_

_"Saw her buying one in the convenience store a few days ago. Either you're about to be a dad, or Spencer is."_

_"Get out of my house, Greg. And stop spreading lies." Philby's anger was growing. If he didn't watch himself, he'd probably punch Greg-which is _exactly_ what Greg wanted. Philby was not about to give Greg what he wanted._

_Greg threw up his hands in defeat, slowly backing out of the kitchen. "Okay, okay. I'm leaving. Just remember what I told you when she comes over later. I'm assuming all those pancakes aren't for you."_

_"Don't forget your phone," Philby said as he threw his phone across the room, making sure it smashed against the wall._

_"DUDE! What was that?"_

_"Oops," Philby said with a smile and a shrug. "Now you can't go spreading lies about Willa."_

_Greg took a few steps toward him and grabbed a butcher knife off of the counter. He pointed it in Philby's direction in a threatening way._

_"Dude, you better watch out who you tick off." He put the butcher knife in his back pocket. "Might come back to haunt you."_

* * *

"He claimed he knew something about Willa that I didn't know." Philby shook his head. "It was just a stupid rumor."

Agent McAlister sifted through the file, trying to find the picture of the murder weapon. "Ah ha! Here it is."

She put the picture on the table and pushed it toward Philby. "Ever seen this before?"

Agent McAlister watched as Philby's face drained of color. "That…that's mine."

"You own knives?"

"No…I mean…yes…I mean…not really. Greg took a knife from my house that day…and that was it."

"And how do you know that this knife is the same one?"

"See the letters inscribed in the handle?" Philby turned the photo back toward Agent McAlister, pointing to the inscription. "My dad had those letters carved in for my mother's birthday a few years ago. I'd recognize that anywhere."

Sure enough, Philby was telling the truth. There were his mother's initials carved into the handle. _How did I not catch that before?_

"Why would Greg take a knife from your house?"

Philby shrugged and relaxed a little into his chair. "I don't know. He threatened me with it, so I never tried to take it back."

"He threatened you? That's a good motive to hate somebody. Possibly murder them too."

"I already hated him before that," Philby retorted. "And I didn't kill him, I thought we already established that."

Agent McAlister decided to ignore the last part. "Why did you hate him before this? What did he do to you?"

"He…he…" Philby glanced at the door, as if expecting someone to be standing there. He leaned in and lowered his voice. "He broke into my house in the middle of the night back in ninth grade. He threatened me and my mom."

"Why did he seek you out? You two didn't go to school together. How did you two know each other?"

"I…" Philby glanced down at the table.

_Okay, there is something going on that these kids won't tell me about, and it's really getting on my nerves._

"I'm not sure how he knew me or where I lived. But I knew him through Finn. They went to school together."

Agent McAlister studied Philby. She immediately could tell there was more to that story than meets the eye. Something about all of these kids screamed that. Greg was more than just the school bully who beat up their friend Finn. These kids are all connected somehow.

And that's exactly what Agent McAlister was going to find out.

Agent McAlister stood up and closed the file. "Thank you Philby. We'll be in touch if we have further questions. Please don't plan on leaving town any time soon. Alright?"

"Yes ma'am."

Agent McAlister watched as he walked out of the room, following him out the door before heading to her desk, where Jake was waiting for her with a sandwich in hand.

"Hungry?"

* * *

"So what do we know so far?" Alyssa asked Jake. They had just finished lunch and were waiting on the next suspect to come in—Charlene Turner.

Miss Turner had gymnastics practice and it doesn't end until 12:30. She wouldn't be here until 1. Usually they made suspects skip such events, but Alyssa let her slide this one time. Charlene, according to her file, was going to be a back-up for some of the US women's gymnastics team in Beijing 2008. Alyssa figured that an important enough excuse. And besides, Charlene seemed the least likely to be the killer, at least in Alyssa's eyes.

"We know the guy was stabbed three times with a butcher knife. We also know that six of our suspects have their fingerprints on it."

"Yeah, Willa and Philby have both admitted to their fingerprints being on there. Who are the other four?"

Jake fumbled with a few of the files on his desk and opened one. "It says here they found both Lockhart girls, Charlene Turner and Finn Whitman. There's no Terry Maybeck on here."

Alyssa nodded, taking in the information while Jake continued. "Toxicology is still trying to analyze the green substance on the handle of the knife, but still no matches so far. What about our suspects?"

"Amanda and Philby are hiding a lot. That I know for sure."

"So did that Maybeck kid." Jake took a sip of his drink. "Which is odd since he's basically been cleared-with no fingerprints on the murder weapon."

Alyssa put down her sandwich and leaned in. "Is it just me, or is there some bigger power at play here?"

"What do you mean?" Jake said with a mouth-full of food.

"It just seems like these kids are all innocent. To me, it looks like they're being framed."

"But what about the stuff they're hiding?"

"I think that has to do with that bigger power here."

"You think _they_ know who's framing them?"

Alyssa shrugged. "It's a possibility."

Jake started laughing. "I didn't know you were into the whole conspiracy theory thing, Alyssa."

"I'm not! Right now, it seems like the only logical answer."

"I think you need some more sleep."

Alyssa shrugged, suddenly interested in her sandwich. "You're probably right." _We__ have been up since three this morning..._

"Agent McAlister?" Alyssa turned to see a police officer standing behind her.

"Yes?"

"The next suspect," the officer looked down at the file in his hand, "Miss Charlene Turner, is in interrogation room A."

"Thank you sir." Alyssa put down her sandwich and took the file from the officer.

"Have fun in there kid." Jake said, again with a mouth full of food.

Alyssa rolled her eyes. "I'll do my best."

* * *

**Alrighty guys, up next is Charlene. The ultimate question of who's fingerprints are not on the knife has been solved! Any ideas on how Charlene got her hands on it? **

**I'll update as soon as I can! Enjoy the rest of your day :)**


	6. Charlene I

**Here we go, let's see what Charlene has to say! Not going to lie, the ending to this chapter is one of my favorite parts of the story I've written so far :)**

* * *

Chapter 6: Charlene Turner I-1st Interrogation

It only took one question for Charlene's mind to jump back into her most recent nightmare. Before the question was even over, she could feel herself trembling. The last thing she wanted was to relive it all over again—but Agent McAlister's question gave her no choice.

* * *

_She had been getting ready for early practice and was running a tad bit late._

_She glanced down at her phone and saw that it was 8:38 A.M. She needed to leave by 8:45 to get to practice on time. Charlene took a deep breath. She still had time for a quick breakfast. The last thing she wanted was for her to throw up at practice and to get the anorexia talk…_again_._

_She hurried to her car and threw her back into the back seat. _

_Before she closed it the door, a butcher knife came out of nowhere and was lodged into her back seat, cutting the leather interior._

_Charlene let out a blood-curdling scream and turned around to see Greg Luowski standing there._

_"Greg! What are you doing here?"_

_"Thought I'd come say hey." His grin was screaming evil. "We never got to _really_ talk back in the old days."_

_"That's because you were working with Maleficent and trying to kill us!"_

_"Kill? No…I only wanted to scare Whitless."_

_"Mission accomplished," Charlene glanced down at her phone and saw that she now only had five minutes for breakfast. "Now if you don't mind me, I've got to get something to eat before practice."_

_Charlene turned back into the car, grabbed the knife out of her seat and handed it back to him. "And take your little toy with you when you leave."_

_Greg took the knife from her and took a step back so she could close the car door. Once she had done that, he blocked her path to the front door._

_"Umm…Greg…I need to get into the house…so if you could just move."_

_Greg put the knife in his back pocket and grabbed her left wrist. He used all of his force and slammed her into the car. Charlene heard a sickening _POP!_ but didn't dare scream or even look in the direction of her wrist. _

_She didn't want to give Greg the satisfaction of winning._

_"Not until I get to tell you a little story."_

_"Spit it out then! I've got practice to get to." Charlene was trying so hard not to cry from the pain. _

_"Once upon a time there were seven little brats who thought they defeated Maleficent. Little did they know that she can't be killed. In a few years she came back from the dead and finally got what they deserved: their death."_

_"That's a pretty crappy story, Greg," Charlene said as she struggled against Greg's hold. _

_The feeling in her left hand was dwindling as the pain in her wrist was growing. Practice was going to be rough on her today, that was a fact._

_"Not meant to be the happy little Disney tale that you're used to. It's called reality, Charlene. Consider yourself warned." _

_Greg slammed Charlene's left hand into the car again before leaving her._

_Charlene stared as he walked down the sidewalk. She was trembling with fear. Her phone buzzed and she looked down and saw that it was 8:43 A.M. She ran back into the house to grab a granola bar. She'd have to eat in the car._

* * *

"Charlene?"

"Huh?" Charlene snapped back to reality. She was still in the interrogation room with Agent McAlister.

"You kind of zoned out there for a minute on me, are you feeling alright?" Agent McAlister asked in a sweet voice.

"Yeah," Charlene shook her head, as if erasing whatever she had just thought of out of her mind. "What did you say again?"

"I had just asked you when the last time you saw Greg was."

"Oh…he came by my house that morning." Charlene started unconsciously rubbing her left wrist. Even though it had only been four days, it was still hurting the same amount, probably even more.

"And?"

"And…that's it. He was walking by on the sidewalk, said hey, and left when I had to go to practice."

Agent McAlister nodded. She couldn't help but notice how Charlene was rubbing her left wrist. _A gymnastics injury perhaps? _

"Umm…Ms. Agent McAlister…is that all you want to ask me?"

"Just one more question," Agent McAlister leaned forward on the table with her elbows. "How come your fingerprints are on the murder weapon?"

Charlene's eyes went wide. "The…the knife?"

"Yes."

"He…might have dropped it when we crossed paths. I picked it up and gave it to him."

"Alright." Agent McAlister studied Charlene. As expected, there was something she wasn't telling her. All of these kids had that. But this one seemed different. It had something to do with that wrist. Her gut feeling was telling her that.

"You can go Charlene. Don't leave town, just in case we have more questions."

Charlene nodded and showed herself out.

* * *

"Mom! I'm back!" Charlene yelled as she shut the front door. She placed her car keys on the kitchen counter before grabbing a bag of chips and plopping herself down on the couch.

"It's about time you get back."

Charlene looked over to the bottom of the stairs and saw Maybeck sitting on the bottom step. He got up and came over, sitting next to her on the couch.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, of course."

Charlene rolled her eyes. _Boys can be so stupid_.

"_Why_ did you come to see me?"

"I can't come see my girlfriend?" Maybeck crossed his arms and pouted like a child. "I see how it is."

"You're such a baby. We saw each other this morning."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then you went off to gymnastics and I was _so_ bored." Maybeck leaned his head back.

"It's not my fault that I'm preparing for the Olympics."

"You mean to be a _back-up_ for the Olympics."

Charlene punched him in the arm. "I'm still going. That's better than you."

"Well _excuse _me. Being in the army isn't good enough for you, so be it."

"You just joined up a few weeks ago, Maybeck. You're acting like you've been in the army for years."

"It's not like I haven't been fighting. I've got plenty of experience from the keepers."

Charlene rolled her eyes. "That means you and I are on the same level then, stupid."

"And see how you're wasting your talents? I'm going into the army and you're going to do flips on international TV."

"Don't you ever pay attention to my meets? It's a lot more than just flips."

"Honestly?" He looked over at her and she nodded. "Nope."

"Maybeck!"

"It's boring!"

Charlene rolled her eyes again, but instead of punching him again, she laid her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"You going to miss me when you're in Beijing, Charlie?"

"No."

"What?" She felt Maybeck tense up.

Charlene started laughing and he started to relax again. "I'm going to miss you a lot, Terry, but if you're going to be in the army, we've got to get used to being separated."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Maybeck pulled her in closer, crushing her left wrist against his thigh. Charlene let out a little whimper of pain.

"What's wrong?"

Charlene stood up and started walking to the kitchen. She had to get some ice on her wrist—now.

"Nothing."

"You don't get hurt easily, Charlie. If something's hurting you, I want to know."

"It's nothing, Maybeck." She reached into the refrigerator and grabbed and ice pack, placing it on her wrist.

Maybeck came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "So it's your wrist huh?" He kissed her on the cheek quickly before snatching the ice pack.

"MAYBECK! I need that!"

"Tell me how you hurt your wrist!"

"Why?"

"Because I said so!" He held the ice pack over his head. "Or no ice pack for you!"

"That's not funny."

"Am I laughing?"

Charlene crossed her arms and started tapping her foot. "Give it to me."

"Nope."

"Now!"

"Not until you tell me."

"Ugh." Charlene walked over to her purse and picked it up with her left hand without thinking, sending up signals of pain through her nervous system. She dropped the purse and almost screamed due to the pain.

A few seconds later, Maybeck swept her up in his arms bridal style and headed for the front door, dropping the ice pack in her lap.

"What are you doing Maybeck? Put me down!"

"Nope! We're going to the hospital."

"Why?"

"Because you hurt your wrist and it's hurting you a lot. Now unless you're going to tell me that this whole thing's a joke, we're going."

He put her down gently right by the front door, getting her house keys and purse for her. "My car, now."

Charlene rolled her eyes and went straight to his car, buckling up in the passenger seat. He shut her door and walked over to the driver side, got in and turned the car on.

"You don't need to do this you know," Charlene whispered, staring at her purse.

Maybeck turned to her and grabbed her chin with his hand, making her look at him. It wasn't a forceful gesture, but a loving one. It was the little things like this that Charlene loved the most.

"Charlene, please let me take care of you, okay? If you want to be able to do all your flips and stuff in Beijing, you need to get that wrist feeling better, or you won't even get to go! I know that this is really important to you but I'm _not_ going to let you hurt yourself to get there. We're going to get your wrist looked at. I'm not letting you practice with a hurting wrist."

Charlene was almost in tears—partially because of the pain, but also because of his kindness. This side of him only came out every once in a while and Charlene cherished it every time.

It was times like this in which she fell in love with him all over again.

"Terry…"

"Don't even begin to protest." He moved his hand from her chin to her cheek, wiping away a stray tear. "I love you Charlie, you got that?"

"I love you too." She gave him a genuine smile—and unlike so many other times in her life, she actually smiled. No hiding behind a fake smile anymore. At least not with him.

"Good," Maybeck leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. When he pulled back he put the car into drive and started heading for the hospital.

* * *

**Alrighty guys, you know the drill! Review! Pretty, pretty, please! Hey, and if you don't-that's okay too!**

**I'll have chapter 7 up as soon as I can. Jess is up next! :)**


	7. Jess I

**I'm glad y'all like this story so much! I decided to write Jess' chapter a little bit differently than all of the others, so I hope y'all enjoy the change!**

* * *

Chapter 7: Jessica Lockhart I-1st Interrogation

On her drive over to the police station, Jess couldn't help but remind herself of the phone call she had received the day Greg had died.

_"You can't escape Maleficent, _Jezebel_." He scolded in a threatening voice. "She's coming back and you'll be her first victim. Once she has you, you can't escape her. Not matter how hard you try."_

_"You're wrong, Greg. You had a choice to join. I never chose that. She chose _for_ me."_

_"That's how it works for all of us! You don't get a choice!"_

She didn't want to be called Jezebel. She didn't want to remember what she had done those few months. She wanted more than anything to have those memories erased—but yet they were still there, defying her wishes.

She turned into the parking lot and she still couldn't get it out of her head.

_"We always get a choice Greg! We're born with free will! You have a choice!"_

_"I don't, Jess." Greg almost sounded scared. "My time's almost over. And you're going to be next."_

Ever since Jess had found out Greg was dead those words had been echoing in her mind. Back and forth. To and fro. She was next. _What does that even mean?_

She got out of her car and locked it. One can never be too safe—even though she was at a police station, Jess wasn't going to take the chance.

She walked in, told the receptionist who she was there to see and was immediately told to sit and wait in the chair on the far side of the station, reassuring her that Agent Stanford would be with her as soon as he could.

Jess sat there in the chair tapping her foot nervously.

_"Next? What does that even mean Greg?"_

_"It means if I die, you better watch out."_

_"Watch out for who?"_

_"That's the thing. Nobody knows."_

Maybe she was just paranoid. Greg was lying. He was also dead.

But according to him, she wouldn't be too far behind. But why would she trust Greg's word now? He had never been one to trust before? Why now? Why was something about his words _screaming_ truth?

And better yet, why was she terrified?

_"Who else have you talked to about this?"_

_"All of the others on the list."_

_"What list?"_

_Greg let out a sigh of anger. He was expecting her to understand. _

Jess _still_ didn't understand. Why her? What list? None of it made sound of the second hand on the clock moving made her more anxious. One breath at a time, her anxiety levels grew.

_Tick, tock._

Jess felt like she was going to be sick. The first day after Greg had called, she was fine. It was the second when the paranoia started settling in. She couldn't sleep. She couldn't watch TV for the only things she could ever find were scary movies-predicting the fate that Greg had warned her about. She only ate when Amanda made her.

_Tick, tock._

The clock was mocking her, as if it knew the fate that supposedly awaited her.

_Tick, tock._

Jess searched the room for a friendly face. Finn was supposed to be here at the same time as her. But he was nowhere to be seen. She glanced down at her phone: 1:55 P.M. _Oh great, I'm five minutes early._

_Tick, tock._

Five more minutes—probably more, if she's being honest with herself—sitting in this chair, tapping her foot. Five more minutes of listening to the clock taunt her, making her feel like she's losing her mind. As if each second that passed caused her sanity to slowly diminish away from her.

If Greg had wanted her to feel insane—he got his death wish.

_Tick, tock._

_Tick, tock._

_Tick, tock._

"Jessica Lockhart?"

Jess snapped her attention in the direction of the voice and saw Agent Stanford standing in front of blonde hair in a buzz cut and his blue eyes sparkling. He wasn't bad looking. _That's a plus._

"Uh…yes…that's me."

"I'm Agent Stanford," he extended a hand for her to shake. "Shall we go back into the interrogation room and have a quick chat?"

Jess hesitated before shaking his hand, but did it anyway. "We shall."

_Tick, tock._

* * *

Agent Stanford escorted her to interrogation room A and motioned for her to sit in a chair. He sat at the chair on the opposite side of the table and opened a folder. There were a few post-it notes next to things on the first page.

In a quick glance, Jess noticed that one note said F.P. Another said emails.

"So Jess," Agent Stanford began, bringing Jess out of her thoughts, "may I ask you when you last saw Greg?"

Jess almost let out a sigh of relief. He didn't ask when she last _spoke_ to Greg.

"I saw him during my lunch break four days ago. He had a knife and I threw it in the trash for him."

"Interesting," he made a note of that. "Care to elaborate?"

"I work in Animal Kingdom, or at least this summer I do. I had a two-hour lunch break and during which, I went out to my car. When I got there, I saw Greg trying to break into my car, so I asked him why he was there."

"Then what happened?"

"He stopped what he was doing and I noticed he had a knife with him. I took the knife and ran toward the nearest trash can, making sure it went to the bottom of the pile."

"So you threw the knife away?"

"Yes sir."

Even Jess had convinced herself that she was confident in herself. It was almost as if the paranoia from only minutes beforehand hadn't happened.

"Did it look like this?" Agent Stanford pulled out his phone and showed it to her. The picture on the screen was a long butcher knife with a strange green substance on the handle.

"It did, but it didn't have that green junk on it then." Jess looked up and made eye contact with Agent Stanford. "Do you know what it is?"

"We're still working on that." He picked up his phone and put it back in his pocket. He began sifting through the file.

He pulled out a thin stack of papers and placed it in front of her.

"Care to explain these emails, Miss Lockhart?"

Jess looked down at the emails. They were dated back to 2003—when she was under Maleficent's spell.

When she was Jezebel.

"What do emails from 2003 have to do with Greg's murder?"

"These emails were sent from an unknown account. The same account has sent a few similar emails to Greg over the years, starting around 2004 and continuing until recent."

Jess hoped that the color wasn't draining from her face. That account could only belong to one person: Maleficent.

But she couldn't tell that to Agent Stanford. She'd be put in a mental institution.

_Or maybe that's what Greg wants. _

"I…I never knew the sender. I figured they were spam. See? I never replied to any of these." Jess pushed the stack of papers back toward Agent Stanford.

Agent Stanford was studying her—that she knew. Jess was determined not to show anything on her face. Jezebel was not coming back. She was not threatened by Greg the day he died. Maleficent was dead and _not_ coming back for revenge.

"So you have _no_ idea who was sending these emails?"

"Nope."

Jess noticed that he wasn't taking the stack of papers back yet.

"A lot of the emails Greg had gotten in the weeks before his death had your name in them. Care to explain that?"

"I don't know why they would be. Must be another Jess."

"Another Jessica Lockhart?"

Jess shifted uncomfortably. "That's strange. I don't know why the spam would have my name in his emails. What a coincidence!"

"There's no coincidences in a murder investigation, Miss Lockhart." Agent Stanford finally took the stack of papers back. "That, I know for sure."

Before Jess could reply, Agent Stanford excused himself from the room. He reminded her not to leave town because they might need her for further questioning.

* * *

Jake made a beeline for Alyssa's desk after leaving Jessica Lockhart in the interrogation room.

He slammed down Jessica's file on her desk, startling her.

"Jake! What was that about?"

"I know who did it."

"What?" Her confused expression stared up at him. "You haven't even talked to all the suspects yet!"

"It's Jessica, I'm telling you."

Alyssa gave him a disapproving look. "What makes you say that?"

"They've been getting emails from the same person. Somebody giving them orders for something. That part I haven't figured out yet. But it only makes sense. She must have killed him to keep quiet. The emails say so right here!"

"Jake, you're jumping to conclusions. Listen to Finn first. He's the one with the most motive at the point."

"I'm telling you Alyssa. It's her."

"Okay, Jake, I hear you. Believe what you want. But for now, we're not going to jump to conclusions without evidence. Okay?"

Jake took a deep breath. "Fine."

"I hear Finn just got here. You should go to talk to him now."

Jake nodded and left to head back to the interrogation room. Jessica was being ushered out by a police officer when he got there.

She gave him one quick look. It was screaming fear and horror. Jake waited outside the door as Jess left and Finn was brought back by another officer.

Finn's eyes were screaming something completely different—something he hadn't seen from any of the suspects in this investigation. The look in Finn's eyes made him question the whole rant he had just had about Jess being the killer.

Jake knew that look anywhere.

It was the look of a guilty soul.

* * *

**Hmm...so what do y'all think about Jess' side of the story? And what do you think Finn will have to say?**

**Please review! I love reading them! :) **

**Have a great rest of your day! I'll update as soon as I can! **


	8. Finn I

**Alrighty guys, let's see what Finn's side of the story is! Chapter 8! :)**

* * *

Chapter 8: Finn Whitman I-1st Interrogation

If Finn had been able to go all-clear that night, they wouldn't be in this mess.

If Finn had been able to go all-clear, Amanda wouldn't have gotten that punch to the face.

If Finn had been able to go all-clear, he wouldn't have gotten his fingerprints on the knife.

If Finn had been able to go all-clear, Greg might still be alive. But he would have left Amanda's apartment with a few bruises. Finn knew a thing or two about changing appearances from the old days of being a keeper. For the past few days, he had let Amanda put some kind of makeup on his black eyes so that nobody would know that Greg had beat him up in front of his own girlfriend.

If he wasn't embarrassed enough already, an old acquaintance walked into McDonald's and immediately spotted him and Amanda.

"Oh my gosh! It's Finn Whitman!" Her squealing fan-girl voice got on Amanda's nerves. It was her personality that annoyed him.

"Hi, Jeanie." Amanda muttered as Jeanie walked over to the table where they were sitting.

"Amanda." Finn could feel the daggers of Jeanie's stare.

Jeanie sat down beside Finn and put her hand on top of his, a hand that he immediately withdrew.

"So Finn," Jeanie said with a huge smile. "How are you these days?"

"Good, Jeanie." Finn shifted uncomfortably in his seat, staring at the lunch in front of him. "I…uh…was spending some time with Amanda…_alone_."

"So you two are still together?" Her voice almost sounded hurt. Why she ever thought she had a chance with Finn would boggle his mind for eternity.

"Yes, Jeanie. We've been dating for how long, sweetheart?" Amanda said in a peppy voice.

Finn glanced over at her with a confused look. _What are you trying to do?_

"Oh, I know," Amanda looked over at Jeanie. "We just celebrated our four-year anniversary at the end of May."

"Oh, I see," Jeanie replied, her voice was now filled with hatred and jealousy. "And what did you two do for the special occasion?"

"Finn took me on a Disney cruise for a week." Amanda's smile was radiating, but Finn knew better than to believe a word she was saying. For their anniversary she had come up to Tallahassee to visit and they went out to a fancy dinner.

Finn figured a few white lies to the ex-roommate that both Amanda and Jess loathed wouldn't hurt anybody.

"Oh." Jeanie turned to Finn. "How could you afford such a trip?"

Finn shrugged. "Being a DHI, I get some perks." Finn picked up a French fry. "And a significant amount of money that my parents just gave me access to."

"How…_romantic_ of you."

"Oh Finn's very romantic, Jeanie. I would tell you, but we've got places to go, right sweetie?"

Amanda looked at him expectantly. He really didn't want to go. They were only half way through lunch.

"Uh…yeah. I've got a meeting to get to."

Jeanie turned to Finn and extended her hand, which he reluctantly shook. "Well, it's always a pleasure to see you Finn."

"Yup. Nice…uh…seeing you too Jeanie."

Jeanie turned to Amanda and her glare was one that could kill—if looks could do such a thing. "Amanda."

"Jeanie," Amanda said with a smile, as if nothing was wrong with Jeanie ruining their lunch.

Jeanie left to get in line for food, glancing their way every few seconds. Amanda stood and slung her purse over her shoulder. Finn sighed dramatically before standing. He was really hungry and the food looked so good.

Amanda leaned in and whispered, "take the fries."

And that's exactly what he did.

* * *

When Amanda had sat down in the passenger seat, Finn closed her door and got in the driver's seat.

"What time is it?" She asked him.

Finn glanced at his phone. "Uh…1:45."

"You've got to go to the station at 2, remember?"

"Yeah, but I'll drive you home first."

"You won't make it there and back in time. I can just wait in the car."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

The drive over would have been seen as quiet to the average person. But Finn's thoughts were pounding in his head.

_Why didn't _I_ go all clear? Why didn't _I_ stop Greg? This is all _my_ fault. He's dead because of _me_. I might not have stabbed him myself, but I might as well have. If I_ _had just kept him in Amanda's apartment a few more minutes, maybe he wouldn't be dead. Maybe _he_ wouldn't feel this guilt. But I didn't kill him. Someone else stabbed him. Someone else ripped his life away. Someone else did this. But why do I feel the guilt?_

"Finn? You okay?" Amanda asked as she reached over and placed her and on top of his.

"Yeah…uh…I was just thinking…about that night."

"When Greg came over?"

"Yeah." He refused to make eye contact with her. She probably thought he was a coward. He couldn't beat up Greg when he was threatening her. He could defeat Maleficent, Chernabog and the Overtakers singlehandedly but he couldn't keep Greg from punching Amanda in the face.

Talk about confusion.

"You don't look okay."

"I'm fine Amanda. Just nervous about the interrogation that's all."

"Why? You didn't kill him."

"I know," he moved his hand out from underneath hers and placed it on the steering wheel. "But when they found out we fought about an hour before he died, they're going to think I did it."

"Why would they? You've got an alibi! You were with me all night."

"Yeah, I know that and you know that. But can we _prove_ that?"

"Surely there's something." Amanda placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're not going to be convicted for a murder you didn't commit."

He really wanted to believe her. Truly, he did.

* * *

"So Finn, tell me. When was the last time you saw Greg?" Agent Stanford asked Finn.

"Four days ago. He came over to Amanda's apartment around 10:30 that night."

"10:30? You know he was killed around midnight. You might have been the last person to see him alive."

"I know."

"Why were you at Amanda's apartment that night?"

"I can't spend the night at my girlfriend's place?"

"Of course you can. I wasn't informed that the two of you were dating."

"Oh, I figured it was in that file of yours."

"Nope." Agent Stanford closed the file and pushed it to the side. He put his elbows on the table and leaned in closer. "Why was Greg there that night?"

"I don't know _why _he came, but he threatened me and my girlfriend."

"What were his _exact _words?"

Finn closed his eyes. Greg's words still echoed in his mind.

_"Maleficent's coming back, Whitless, and she's going to kill you. She's going to take everything you have and rip it away from you and make you beg for death. And I wouldn't doubt it if she starts with your little girlfriend here."_

Finn shook his head, making the threat retreat deeper into his mind—at least for now.

"I…I don't remember."

"But he threatened you? Is that correct?"

"Yes. He…he also hurt my girlfriend."

"How so?"

"He punched her in the face."

"I think that'd be enough of a reason to hate someone. Do you agree?"

"I've hated him for a long time, Agent Stanford. That's just one of _many_ instances where he's tried to hurt me."

"I see." Agent Stanford leaned back in his chair. "I think that's enough to be considered motive."

Finn took a deep breath, slowly exhaling. He needed to calm down before he did something that would get him locked up for life.

"I didn't kill him."

"Then what's your alibi?"

"I was at Amanda's all night. You can ask her."

"Okay, I will." Agent Stanford made a note in his file. "Anything else you'd like to tell me, Mr. Whitman?"

"No sir."

"Alright then. I'll get in contact with you if I have any further questions."

Finn nodded and walked out of the room.

* * *

Finn shut the car door and put on his seat belt.

"How did it go?" Amanda asked him in a soft tone.

"I told him the truth." Finn refused to make eye contact with her.

"Finn," Amanda reached over and put a hand under his chin, making him look at her. "That doesn't answer my question sweetie."

"I…I can't stop thinking about what Greg said that night." He took a deep breath and started the car. Neither of them said a word until they were onto the main road.

"Don't listen to him, Finn. That's exactly what he would have wanted."

"I know." Finn gripped the steering wheel. "But I couldn't go all-clear."

Amanda turned to face him. "You tried to go all-clear that night?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I've always been able to go all-clear, even when I'm not crossed over."

"Why did you try to go all-clear that night?"

"Because I wouldn't have gotten beaten up in front of you, Amanda! That's why!" He knew his volume had gotten too loud the second he stopped talking.

"Amanda…I didn't mean to raise my voice at you…I'm sorry..."

"Finn, that's what you're so worried about? That Greg beat you up in front of me? He's done that before."

"Yeah, but we weren't dating then. He was stronger than me back then. Now, I should have been able to get rid of him. I…I should have been able to stop him from punching you."

"Finn, it happens. Don't worry about me."

"But Amanda, I have to!"

"That doesn't make any sense!"

Finn pulled up to her apartment and turned off the car. He took off his seat belt and turned to face her.

"Amanda, I have to worry about you. I _can't_ stop worrying about you. You want to know why? Because I love you…and I care about you…and I can't stand to think that anyone would hurt you. The fact that Greg punched you in the face right in front of me hurts deep, deep down. I should have been able to prevent that, but I couldn't."

He turned away from her and rested his head on the steering wheel.

"I couldn't save Dillard. I couldn't stop Greg. I…I can't do anything right."

Amanda got out of the car and walked over to his side. She opened the driver's door and turned him so that he was facing her. With him sitting in the car and her standing, they were eye to eye. She put both hands on her knees.

"Finn, I want you to listen to me." Her right hand moved to his cheek. "Dillard sacrificed himself for you. Greg...Greg was just an idiot. If we're going to play the blame game for what happened that night, I'm going to blame myself. I could have pushed him off of you, but I didn't. You want to know why? Because I was worried I'd push you too—and I couldn't live with myself if I had hurt you in any way."

She paused and a tear fell down her cheek. Finn reached up and wiped it away.

"I love you Amanda. It's not your fault that Greg beat me up."

"And it's also not yours, Finn."

She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. "I love you too. Now can we go inside? We didn't get to finish lunch, and I'm starving."

Finn smiled at her. "Of course sweetheart."

Finn watched as she walked up to her apartment and unlocked the front door. Finn got out of the car and locked it.

He turned around to walk to the house and thought he saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye. He looked to his left and saw a shadow move down the side of the neighboring apartment.

Finn stood there and watched for a few more seconds but saw nothing.

Somebody had been watching them. Maybe Greg was right…

* * *

**Hmm...so what do y'all think? Please review and have a wonderful day! :)**


	9. Amanda II

**So it's been a while, guys. I apologize for that! It's been quite the busy week! Since we've been through all 7 of the keepers' first interrogations, we're going to start narrowing down the list of suspects. **

**If you remember correctly, Maybeck has been taken off of the suspect list since he didn't have any fingerprints on the knife. The next 6 chapters are going to deal with how the remaining six keepers deal with their day away from the station. **

**Just for y'all's reference...Remember how in the 2nd book, Amanda tells Finn about how she and Jess left Orlando to go back to the fairlies? Amanda claims that Jess wouldn't stop having dreams, that's why they came back. But what if there was more to the story? **

**I'll leave you with that interesting thought. Here's chapter 9! I hope you enjoy! :)**

* * *

Chapter 9: Amanda Lockhart II-Free Day

_"You shouldn't be here Amanda," Marcus' voice echoed through the empty diner. _

_"I-I-I heard something a-a-and I was just making sure you were o-o-okay." Thirteen-year old Amanda stood there near the cash register, her hands clasped together to hide the shaking._

_Marcus' face was filled with anger. She had never seen him this angry. She looked past him and saw a person standing behind him in the shadows. In his hand, she could see a bag. Amanda didn't know what was in it, but she didn't like this situation. _

_"Amanda, go back upstairs with _your_ sister." Marcus said slowly and carefully, emphasizing each word. _

_Amanda wasn't dumb. Marcus had been in some deep trouble before. But now that he was bringing his trouble to the diner right below their apartment…_

_She was not going to let him endanger _her_ sister, who was asleep upstairs._

_"Marcus, tell me what's going on!" Amanda pleaded. She knew more about his situation than he realized. She wanted to help him._

_"Amanda, go back upstairs."_

_"Yeah, _Amanda_, go back upstairs." The person behind him said in a mocking voice. _

_"Marcus, what's going on?" Amanda asked again._

_"Go upstairs, Amanda, this has nothing to do with you," Marcus pleaded._

_"NO!" Amanda had to resist the urge to push Marcus and his "friend" into oblivion._

_"Amanda, this isn't a request. GO. UPSTAIRS. NOW."_

_She heard a click come from behind Marcus. A car driving by the window illuminated Marcus and his "friend" for a few seconds, revealing the gun that was being held at the back of Marcus' head._

_Amanda's eyes went wide. "MARCUS!"_

_"UPSTAIRS! NOW!" _

_Amanda backed away slowly, not letting her eyes linger off of Marcus. _

_She got to the staircase and ran up the first few steps, stopping so that she could hear the rest of that conversation. She continued to stomp her feet, getting softer each time, giving off the impression that she had run up the rest of the stairs. _

_In the darkness of the stairwell, she only heard bits of the conversation. But what she did hear scared her to death._

_"YOU OWE ME!"_

_"I'll pay you…yes…yes…next week, I promise."_

_"I don't have to wait that long. I'm not patient you see."_

_The scrambling of feet and the sound of a chair being thrown across the room echoed throughout the building. Amanda prayed that Jess didn't wake up. _

_"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! WE HAD A DEAL!"_

_A maniacal laugh lingered in the air. "Do we?"_

_"Yes, yes, of course, man."_

_"LIAR!"_

_"No, no, I'll get it to you next week. Business in the diner has been down recently, but I've got some help, now and–"_

BANG!

* * *

"Amanda?" Finn asked quietly as he gently shook her shoulder.

Amanda opened her eyes and saw that Finn was propped up on an elbow next to her in her bed. He was looking at her with a huge, cheesy smile slapped on his face.

"What are you smiling about?" Amanda asked him. She buried her face in the pillow. She wanted to erase that dream-and the memory-from her mind.

"You're just so beautiful, that's all."

Amanda pushed him playfully. "You're super cheesy, you know that?"

"Don't act like you don't like it!"

Amanda rolled her eyes and got out of the bed. "Did you spend the night here last night?"

"Yeah, I didn't feel like driving back home."

"You're so lazy! I went to bed at nine. Nine is not late."

"You're such an old lady! Who goes to bed at nine?"

"An old lady? Me? I'm surprised you didn't crash! We got arrested by the police at two in the morning. I think I have the right to be tired, Finn."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I made breakfast, you want some?"

"Of course," Amanda said before following Finn into the kitchen.

* * *

"Do you think we should wake up Jess?" Finn asked Amanda with a mouth full of pancake.

"Nah, she'll be fine. It's only nine in the morning, anyway." Amanda answered. She picked up her fork and continued to indulge herself with the scrambled eggs that he made. She couldn't believe how awesome of a cook Finn was—ten times better than her, that's for sure.

A knock at the door made both of them pause. Finn gave her a questioning look, which of course she returned.

He pointed the fork in the direction of the door. "You going to answer that?"

"Uh…yeah." Amanda took a deep breath and walked over to the front door. She opened it and saw Marcus standing in front of her.

"Looks like I got the right address," he said with a smug look on his face.

"Marcus?" Amanda gripped the door to steady herself. She could have sworn he was dead. He had to be dead. She heard him being shot. She never saw him again.

_Why is he here, now, in front of me?_

"Wow Amanda, life's been good to you." He whistled as he looked her over. He tried to step past her and into her apartment, but Finn showed up.

"Who's this, Amanda?" Finn asked, eyeing Marcus suspiciously.

"He's…he's an old…"

"Friend," Marcus extended his hand to Finn. "I'm Marcus, and I'm assuming you're Finn Whitman?"

Finn hesitated before shaking Marcus' hand. "Yeah, how did you know that?"

"You're famous, dude. Everybody knows who you are. Find the right magazine and you'll find some juicy pictures of Finn and his 'mystery' girlfriend." Marcus winked at Amanda, causing her to cringe.

"How do you two know each other?" Finn asked Marcus. Amanda was glad that he was still suspicious of him, but worried that Marcus would reveal too much.

"Back about…hmm…what do you say, Amanda? Five years ago?" When Amanda didn't answer, Marcus turned back to Finn. "Anyway, she and Jess moved in with me and helped me with some work at the dinner for a few months before disappearing."

"Five years ago?" Finn asked. "Why try to meet up with them now?"

"I've been uh…_busy_…until now."

Amanda's eyes went wide. She had a feeling she knew _exactly_ what he was referring to.

"So, mind if I come in, Amanda? Or is this Finn's place?"

"It's mine," Amanda quickly added. The last thing she wanted was for him to think that she was in the same state as she was five years ago. She was _not_ going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her miserable. Never again.

"Ah, how _responsible_ of you Amanda." Marcus pushed past both Finn and Amanda and walked into her apartment. Finn gave Amanda a confused look before following him.

Amanda closed the door and took a second to compose herself. This was going to be a _long_ day.

* * *

"So…how do you two know each other again?" Finn asked both Marcus and Amanda. Amanda and Finn were sitting on the couch with Marcus sitting in a chair he had pulled over to the other side of the coffee table. Marcus' wily grin didn't settle well with Finn. There was something about this guy that Finn didn't like, but he couldn't put his finger on it just yet.

"Amanda and Jess came into the diner one night looking for work. Since they were so young, I was kind of skeptical, but I took them in anyway." Marcus shrugged, as if Amanda and Jess were his charity case for the year. "Then one day they up and disappeared."

Finn glanced over at Amanda. "Is that the whole story?"

Amanda wouldn't make eye contact with him, which he took as a no.

"You don't want to tell your boyfriend over here the truth, huh?" Marcus taunted Amanda. "You don't want him to know the real, ugly truth about you." He started laughing, which made Finn uneasy. "I bet you thought you could just make it all disappear. Oh that's just cute."

Finn could feel Amanda's anger radiating off of her. _This can't be good._

"I thought you were dead, Marcus." Amanda said surprisingly calm. "That's why Jess and I left."

"You talking about that night you interrupted my little deal?"

"You mean the night you had a gun pointed at your head?"

"Oh that? That was just for show." He laughed some more.

"Marcus, this isn't funny. I thought you were dead. I…I had to tell Jess that." Finn could tell that Amanda was close to tears. "S-s-she didn't take it very well."

"Well I certainly hope she didn't take the news well! I'd be kind of sad if my own sister didn't cry upon finding out I was dead."

"Whoa! Jess has a brother?" Finn pointed to Marcus. "And its _you_?"

"Sure thing Whitman," Marcus' grin grew.

"How come he never game up before?" Finn asked Amanda.

Amanda shrugged, still not making eye contact. "I guess she just didn't want to talk about it. It's a touchy subject for her."

"I'm surprised _you_ didn't mention me, Mandy." Marcus said as he leaned back in his chair. "You and I…we were quite the team back then."

Amanda's sad look turned into one of fury and pure rage. "What are you doing here Marcus? You're not wanted here, so state your business and leave."

"Before what? Before you _push_ me? Oh, I'm so scared," Marcus mocked her.

"Marcus…"

Marcus threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine! I'll spill! I need you to help me out with something."

"With what?" Amanda's tone was uninviting. Finn was worried that she would accidentally push both of them if she wasn't careful.

"I…uh…got into a little legal trouble. I need some a place to stay for a few days."

"Legal trouble?" Finn asked out of curiosity. He doubted Marcus had anything to do with Greg's murder, but he couldn't help but ask. "What did you do?"

"You mean, what did they think I did?" Marcus corrected him. "The feds think I killed some kid I don't even know."

"Who do they think you killed?"

Marcus shrugged. "Some kid named Greg Lousy."

"Luowski," Amanda muttered under her breath.

"Gazoontite," Marcus replied.

"No. Greg Luowski is the person you're talking about."

"Did you two know him?" Marcus leaned in closer, obviously more interested in the conversation. His wily grin was swapped for a serious face.

"Yeah," Finn replied. He was still wary of Marcus. "Why do they think you killed him?"

"Something about how we got the same threatening emails from the same person. They basically accused me of being in a 'mob.'"

Amanda and Finn exchanged a look. Amanda leaned in closer, studying Marcus' face. After a few seconds, she leaned back and gasped.

"What is it?" Marcus asked, putting his hand on his face as if Amanda had seen something. "Do I have something on my face?"

Amanda looked shattered. Finn placed a hand on her lower back. "Amanda? Sweetheart? What's going on?"

She stood up unexpectedly. "Finn, we need to talk in the other room for a second. Marcus, if you'll excuse us, please."

"Sure thing." Marcus leaned back in his chair and watched as Finn followed Amanda into the kitchen.

At first, she said nothing. Amanda picked up their plates and started washing them. Finn stared at her in disbelief. He had no idea what was going on.

Amanda turned around to get another plate, but found that Finn was standing in her way.

"What's going on Amanda?" He asked her in a hushed tone.

"He's not who he used to be."

"What does that mean?"

"He's…" Amanda looked past Finn, stealing a quick glance in Marcus' direction. She got closer to Finn and started whispering even softer than before. "He's got green eyes, Finn."

Finn gave her a confused look. "Okay? So do I. What does that mean?"

"No Finn," Amanda took a deep breath out of frustration. "He has _green eyes_."

It took Finn a second to understand exactly what she was talking about. Then it hit him: green eyes = OT's.

"How can that be? They're not around anymore! We beat them last year!"

"Obviously not all of them…"

"So what do you want to do with him? Do we kick him out, turn him in, what?"

"I'm not sure. But he needs to get out of the house before Jess wakes up. If she finds out that her brother has green eyes now, I don't think she'll be able to handle that very well."

"So we kick him out?"

"Maybe I can get him to meet up with me somewhere else. I want to know what he knows."

Finn gave her a disapproving look. "Amanda, that's not a good idea. He's with _them_ now."

"But he's Jess' brother and I need to talk to him about his line of work…" Amanda's eyes went wide. She had said too much.

"What _line of work_? What does that even mean?"

"Nothing, Finn." Amanda walked past Finn and grabbed the rest of the dirty plates. She started washing them in the sink and Finn joined her.

"What went on between you two Amanda?"

"Nothing, Finn. Just drop it." Amanda muttered under her breath as she continued to scrub the plates. Finn took a closer look and saw that the plates were already squeaky clean, but Amanda continued to scrub.

"Amanda." When she didn't answer him, he took the plate out of her hands and put it in the sink. He turned her to face him. "What happened?"

"It wasn't what happened between me and him," Amanda began. "It's the secrets that I found out about him that bother me."

"What kind of secrets?"

"He made almost all of his money off of selling drugs and alcohol illegally. I kind of helped him sometimes without really knowing what I was doing. One night, I stumbled into one of his 'meetings' on accident and that's when I saw him with a gun pointed at the back of his head. I heard a gun shot after I left and when Marcus wasn't there the next morning, I had to tell Jess that we had to leave. I never told her why he was killed though."

"Why not?"

"Because she looked up to him…a lot. I couldn't bear to see her realize her hero is nothing more than a...a drug dealer."

"And you want to talk to him more…because?"

"Because," Amanda let out a long, dramatic sigh. "Because I want to make sure he's not doing that anymore. He knows where I live now, which means he'll come back to talk to Jess sometime soon. I'm not going to let him anywhere near her unless he's one hundred percent done with that crap."

"Fair enough," Finn stated, "but I'm coming with you when that happens."

"What? Finn, no. You don't know Marcus like I do."

"So? If he's still the same as he was before, I don't want _you_ to be around him."

"Finn, that's kind, but I can deal with him. I can, you know, push if I need to."

"Yeah, but he knows you can do that. He might try to stop that from happening. And is he a fairlie too? What can he do?"

"He's no fairlie, that I promise. He only knows about what I can do because of Jess. She told him everything when he found us back in North Carolina five years ago."

Finn studied her. He could tell that Amanda wasn't going to budge on this subject. He took a deep breath. "Fine. But make sure that you are safe. If he's an actual suspect in Greg's murder, you need to be on your guard."

"Thanks Finn," Amanda leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll be back by lunch. Please don't tell Jess about him. At least not yet."

"Your secret is safe with me." He winked at her, causing her to blush.

She walked into the next room and Finn heard her explain to Marcus that they were going to finish their conversation elsewhere.

* * *

Amanda was driving Marcus down to the grocery store. It was a public place where they could talk, just in case he tried to do something. Besides, Amanda had a few things she had to get there. It was a win-win.

Her phone rang just as he pulled into the parking lot.

She hit answer, not even bothering to see who the call was from.

"Hello?"

"Is this Miss Amanda Lockhart?" A female voice asked on the other end.

"Yes ma'am. May I ask who this is?"

"This is Agent McAlister. I'm one of the detectives on the Greg Luowski investigation. I was wondering if you could come in for some questioning later today. Is three good with you?"

"Three?" Amanda took a second to think about all of the things she had to do today. None of them would be interrupted if she went to the station at three. "Three sounds great. I'll be there."

"Thank you Amanda for being so cooperative. I'll see you at three."

Amanda hung up the phone and placed it in her purse. Marcus was looking at her in a strange way.

"Making plans, I see."

"Shut up Marcus. Let's just get this talk over with." Amanda got out of the car and started walking to the grocery store, with Marcus not far behind.

Marcus caught up to her and started talking. "What do you want to know? I'm an open book!"

"How do you know Greg?"

"I said I didn't know Greg."

"I know what you _said_, I want to know the _truth_."

Marcus let out a dramatic sigh. "Who needs the truth?"

Amanda stopped and pulled him by his short so that he would face him. "I do. Right now, Marcus. You can't just waltz back into our lives and pretend like everything's normal! You're going to give me answers now!"

"Fine!" Amanda loosened her grip on Marcus' shirt, but didn't let go. "I did meet that Greg kid once."

"When?"

"Two years ago. He came and visited the diner of the summer. He mentioned something about you two and how I could protect both of you."

"And what was that?"

"Heck if I know! He left soon there after without explaining. I woke up the next morning with green eyes." He leaned in, his face expression was now screaming fear. "It's freaking me out. I can't change get them to change back."

Amanda didn't know understand why Greg would care enough to get Marcus to join him and the Overtakers, but it seemed like Marcus did, he just didn't want to share. Amanda was going to get to the bottom of this. Right now.

* * *

**So...what do y'all think? Please review and tell me what you thought! I'll try to have the next chapter up asap! Enjoy your weekend :)**


	10. Willa II

**What? 2 chapters in the same day? What?! This isn't real life? Oh, you must believe it because it's true! **

**I honestly have no idea how that happened, but it did. This one's kind of short, but it goes back to y'all's favorite character (at least based off of all the reviews of every story I've had)-Willa!**

**It's kind of short, I apologize for that. Here's chapter 10! **

* * *

Chapter 10: Willa Angelo II-Free Day

Willa stared down at the box. She couldn't bring herself to look at it. She didn't even want to believe that she talked herself into buying one. This was denial at the highest level.

The worst part was that Willa was in denial about being in denial. Could she live with what was about to happen? She was more shocked than anyone, for some weird reason. She had no reason to be shocked: the box wasn't hers.

But she was still worried.

It had been five days since she bought it. She would have delivered it that day and gotten rid of the darn thing, but she was told it wasn't needed _yet_. After reading the fated text message that it was needed, Willa couldn't bring herself to even take the box out of the bag. Now that she had done that, she was almost to the point of hyperventilating.

Why did she have to be the one to buy it? Why did she agree to do this? Why did Greg have to see her there? Why did she have worry too much?

Why does she feel as if this is horrible foreshadowing?

The sound of the door slamming shut brought Willa out of her worrisome thoughts.

"Willa!" Jess' voice echoed through the house.

Willa had a few seconds of panic when her eyes fell upon the box. She scrambled to hide the box. She opened the cabinet doors beneath the bathroom sink, but the space underneath was full. For a brief second, she considered throwing the box into the toilet, but figured that was a stupid idea. She kept turning around the room, frantically searching for a hiding spot. When she heard Jess' footsteps on the stairs, she frantically threw open the shower curtain and shoved the box in between the shampoo and conditioner bottles.

Jess opened the slightly ajar bathroom door just as Willa closed the shower curtain.

"Hey! I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping. I was going to go with Amanda, but Finn said she went _grocery_ shopping instead. How lame is that?"

"Uh…sure." Willa slapped a fake smile on her face. "Did you call Charlene? She'll want to come!"

"I haven't heard from her. I called her at least an hour ago."

"That's strange," Willa's fake smile turned into an actual frown. Charlene was not one to not answer her phone—unless she was sleeping.

_I wonder why she's not answering her_ phone, Willa thought to herself.

Jess shrugged. "It's whatever. You want to grab lunch while we're at the mall? I'm starving."

Willa let out a brief laugh. "Sure, Jess. Let me grab my purse. I'll be down in a second."

"Okay!" Jess gave Willa a huge smile before leaving the bathroom and heading back downstairs.

Willa closed her eyes and took three deep breaths before even moving. She opened the shower curtain slowly and picked up the box. Due to the lack of pockets in her dry-fit shorts, Willa shoved the box underneath her shirt and hurried over to her bedroom to find her purse. Once finding it, she shoved the box into her purse.

* * *

_Three Hours Earlier_

"Alyssa!" Jake called from across the station. She had literally _just_ walked into the station. Luckily, after being called in at three in the morning yesterday, the chief let them come in at nine instead of seven. Alyssa had taken her time, buying herself a biscuit and a glass of sweet tea from the McDonald's down the road.

Alyssa trudged over to Jake's desk. He already had two cups of coffee crumbled up in his trash can. He looked as if he had been there all night. _At least he had the decency to change clothes_, Alyssa thought to herself.

She sat down at her desk, which was next to his, and set down her breakfast.

"What Jake?"

"I think I might have eliminated another suspect."

Alyssa perked up. "What? How?"

Jake held out a piece of paper for her to take. "I pulled the kid's credit card information. Got a lot of interesting stuff in there."

Alyssa looked at the places Greg's credit card had been used. There was no correlation whatsoever. None of it made sense.

"What did you get from this?"

"In the last few weeks of the kid's life he's been to four places where our suspects have been at the same time."

"Like what?"

Jake pulled his chair closer to hers. She could smell the coffee he had been chugging on his breath. It was so strong it was almost nauseating.

"Let's start with last fall." Jake motioned for Alyssa to turn to the correct pace, which she did. "It says here in November, he bought season tickets to the University of Florida's gymnastics meets."

"How does that apply to our suspects?"

"I pulled the records on our suspects and found out that Charlene Turner is on the gymnastics team there."

"Okay, so she's still a suspect. She's got motive: he was creeping on her. He had something about that wrist of hers too, I just know it. What about the other three places? Who do they match up with?"

"Skip ahead to about a week ago."

Alyssa flipped forward in the stack of papers until she found the right page.

"It says here he went into the 7-11 three blocks from here."

Alyssa rolled her eyes. "Anybody could have gone into that store, Jake."

"I thought that at first too!" Jake got up quickly and shuffled through the papers on his desk. Eventually a manila folder was pulled out of the mess and handed to Alyssa. "But I looked at the security cameras around the time that he used the card. Look who was there at the same time. More importantly, look at what she was buying."

Alyssa looked long and hard at the somewhat blurry picture. Greg was in one aisle. In the aisle adjacent to his was Willa Angelo. Alyssa couldn't quite make out what she was looking at though.

"What was she trying to buy? It's all blurry," Alyssa asked Jake. She looked up at him expectantly.

He took back the folder and pulled out his phone. "I went to the store last night on the way home and saw that the aisle sells simple things like gum, snacks, but more importantly it sells pregnancy tests."

"Pregnancy tests?"

"Sure thing. I went back and looked at the security camera and found out that she bought one."

"Willa?" Alyssa asked. "She seemed so innocent and sweet."

"Well obviously she is hiding a lot."

That one stumped Alyssa, if she was being honest. Willa had seemed like the least likely, though she did have a fishy story. Alyssa didn't want to believe that someone like Willa could have killed someone, much less be pregnant.

"Anyway, the third place happens to be the day Greg died. He bought something at one of the stores in Animal Kingdom." Jake sat back down in the seat next to hers. "The same store that Jess has been working at this summer."

Alyssa raised her eyebrows. "Didn't the girl mention that when she was being interrogated?"

Jake shrugged. "She said he was trying to break into her car during her lunch break. She never mentioned that she was working when he had come and bought something in the store."

"Maybe she didn't see him. Those stores can be big, you know."

"I don't think so. She's still got motive _you_ _know_," Jake mocked her.

"True," Alyssa conceded. "Who does that leave then?"

"Dell Philby, Amanda Lockhart and Finn Whitman."

"Who did you find a connection to?"

"Amanda and Finn."

"Alright. Spill."

"Ever heard of Cullowhee, North Carolina?" Jake said as he stood up to grab something else from his desk.

"No? Am I _supposed_ to know where that is?"

Jake came back, this time with a different folder in his hand. He handed it to her and she immediately opened it to the first page.

"Supposedly there's a diner down there called Dragon Mountain Diner."

Alyssa looked up at Jake with a confused expression. "Is that a real place?" She was trying so hard not to laugh at the name.

"Sure thing sweetheart." He winked at her. "Turns out five years ago, Marcus, the owner, started the place up with two young teenage girls. Those two girls were Jess and Amanda Lockhart."

"The same Marcus guy the police have been trying to find for a couple of days now?"

"The one and only! According to record, he is Jess' biological older brother."

"Wouldn't he also be Amanda's older brother too?"

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Did you _really_ think they were biologically related, Alyssa?" He crossed his arms and looked at her.

"No, I suppose not," Alyssa shrugged. "But how does this connect to Greg's credit card or his murder?"

"Greg visited there eleven times in the past two years. Nine of those were within the last six months."

"Interesting…" Alyssa glanced down at the file. The diner did seem kind of fishy. "Why did he go visit Marcus?"

"No telling. He does still have the same emails as Jess and Greg. So maybe he's in on this whole big conspiracy theory we've been thinking about."

"We? Ha!" Alyssa glanced over at Jake. It was obvious he hadn't slept at all. "Try _you_. You need some more sleep, Jake."

"You were thinking it yesterday too," Jake whined, similar to how a child whines about going to bed or taking a bath. He crossed his arms and stared at her.

"Whatever floats your boat, Jake. What about Finn?"

"What about him?"

"What connection did you find involving Finn?"

"Oh, right." Jake uncrossed his arms. "None in those papers."

Alyssa gave Jake a confused look. "What?"

"Autopsy report came back at about eight this morning." He sifted through the mess of a desk and found another file, this one had the word OFFICIAL REPORT written in red letters across the front. He handed it to Alyssa. "Turns out there was someone else's DNA underneath Greg's fingernails."

Alyssa took the folder and flipped through it. "It says the DNA belonged to Finn. When did we get a sample from him to compare it to?"

Jake shrugged and sat back down in the chair. "I guess the officers took a hair or something when they arrested him."

"Underneath the fingernails, huh?"

"Yeah. What does that mean?"

Normally when it came to the forensics side of the investigation, Jake was on top of things, understanding every bit of information. The fact that he was asking her what the information meant showed Alyssa that he was exhausted.

"That probably means they fought," Alyssa concluded.

"Yeah, that seems right." Jake leaned his head back and for a second, Alyssa thought he was going to fall asleep.

"Jake?" She asked in a soft voice. She gently shook his shoulder. "Now is not the time to be sleeping."

Jake groaned and lifted his head. "I'm up, I'm up."

"So what do we do now? We're down to five suspects, six if you include Marcus, but that one seems like a stretch now."

"I say we try to find something else to narrow down the suspects again. There's got to be some way to do that."

Alyssa nodded. She looked over her shoulder and saw that the chief was in his office on the phone with someone. She glanced across the station and saw the interrogation room open and free for use. She turned back to see Jake's expectant face. Alyssa could feel the smile grow on her face.

"Now, Jake. You get some sleep in the interrogation room. I'll take over for a few hours."

Jake's face lit up like a child's on Christmas morning. "Really? You'd do that for me Alyssa?"

"Of course. But if you'll need to be out here by lunch or chief will have your head on a silver platter."

Jake stood up rapidly. "Oh, you're the best Alyssa!"

Alyssa stood up and Jake immediately enveloped her in a hug. He let go of her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

Her eyes went wide as he stepped away, just as much surprise on his face as on hers.

"Uh…sorry…just got…uh...carried away." Jake wouldn't meet her eye, but that didn't stop her from continuing to stare at him intently.

"Yeah…I'd get some sleep now if I were you."

"Yeah, I'll…uh…just go…now." Jake awkwardly hesitated before heading off to the interrogation room for a nap.

Alyssa sat back down in her chair, still stunned at what had just happened.

* * *

**So? What do y'all think? Philby and Maybeck are out of the question.**

** Now here's where y'all come in. I have a very important question for y'all to answer in a review (or message). Who do you think is the killer and why? **

**I can't wait to read what y'all think! **

**I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can! Enjoy your weekend! :)**


	11. Philby II

**Sorry this is so short guys. In my defense, Philby isn't one of the suspects anymore, so he doesn't have too much information. BUT this is an interesting chapter nonetheless. **

**Here we go, chapter 11!**

* * *

Chapter 11: Dell Philby II-Free Day

Philby parked his car and walked into the RaceTrac. He had a repugnant taste in his mouth that he needed to get rid of before he got to Willa's house.

Though she said she was spending the day with Jess and Charlene, she called him only twenty minutes ago pleading to meet up with her at her house at 5 P.M. Philby didn't mind, of course, but her tone of voice suggested that something was wrong—which could not be good.

He walked over to one of the aisles and found himself a pack of gum. He turned around to head up to the cash register and saw Spencer and Jess' old roommate, Jeanie, walking into the store.

He didn't want to be seen, so he hurried over to another aisle and turned his back to them, pulling his baseball cap down a little further to cover his face.

The two of them walked into the aisle he was in and started sifting through the merchandise aimlessly.

"This isn't working Spencer. They're still together," Jeanie complained in her annoying voice.

"Don't worry about it Jeanie. It'll happen soon enough."

"It's been five days already! Why is it taking so long? Should we talk to–"

"NO!" Spencer pushed her in Philby's direction. Philby grabbed a random drink out of the refrigerator and started looking through the racks of random snacks. He was still close enough to hear everything that they were saying.

"We can't talk to her, remember?" He scolded her in a low voice.

"And why not? I want her to deliver on her promises already!"

_Her? Who could they possibly be talking about?_ Philby thought to himself. It took all of his willpower not to look in their direction.

"She will! She can't do everything all at once! I know mine's coming soon."

"That's not fair! Greg helped with yours! He delivered the picture to Philby and everything! It's just a matter of time before Willa comes running back to you."

Philby's eyes went wide. _Someone was trying to split us up?_

"Finn will come around, Jeanie, you've just got to give her some time. I'm sure she's got already got a plan in motion for him."

Jeanie sighed and started tapping her foot. "I don't know how much longer I can wait! It's been five years now. How much longer do we have to wait?"

"Not much longer, Jeanie, I promise."

"Speaking of Greg," she lowered her voice even more, "do we even know what happened to him? How can we be sure the same thing won't happen to us?"

"Jeanie, she's not going to kill us. We don't even know if she killed him."

Philby had heard enough. He walked up to the cash register and paid for his drink and pack of gum. He got to his car and called Willa.

"Hey Philby. What's up?"

"I just overheard Jeanie and Spencer talking at RaceTrac and it's not good."

"What? Jeanie and Spencer _know_ each other?"

"Apparently. They kept talking about how some woman was helping them get what they want. Greg was in on it too."

"Did they say what they wanted?"

"Jeanie wanted Finn and Amanda to break up so that she could have him all to herself."

Willa scoffed. "That's ridiculous. They're not breaking up anytime soon. What did Spencer want?"

"He wanted _us_ to break up so that you two could date."

"Eww. He seriously needs to get over himself. What made him think he could suddenly have a chance?"

"Whoever they're working for, I guess."

"And who is that?"

Philby took a deep breath. "Uh…well..."

"Oh Lord have mercy." Philby could hear Willa move around her house and shut a door. She continued in a harsh whisper. "I know what you're going to suggest and you better be very careful with your wording there, Philby."

"Willa, it makes so much sense!"

"Philby, this is ridiculous! It's been over a year. That's just rubbish!"

"I don't know, the way they were talking about her…did we really get rid of her?"

"YES!" Willa took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "Yes we did, Philby. I'm one hundred percent sure."

Philby didn't want to push her any further, even though he disagreed with what she had just said.

"It's almost five, are you on your way?" Willa asked in a normal volume. He heard a door open and the sound of the stairs beneath her feet.

"Yes, I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"Okay good. The rest of the group is here. We've got _a lot_ to talk about."

Willa hung up. Philby wasn't sure what worried him more: what he had just overheard or what he was about to learn.

He pulled up to Willa's house and walked in the front door, not even bothering to knock. He walked into the kitchen and saw his six friends standing there, all with a worried expression on their face.

"So what's so urgent?" He asked Willa. Willa turned to Maybeck and Charlene.

"Uh...we got some weird news Phildweeb," Maybeck began. "You might want to sit down for this one."

* * *

**Sorry about the shortness, guys. I promise the next one will be better...it's Charlene! :) **

**Any idea on what the big, weird, urgent news is? Any idea who Jeanie and Spencer were referring to?**

**Please review-they seriously make my day reading them! I hope y'all enjoyed this one, despite the short length. The next one will be better and longer, I promise! :) Have a wonderful rest of your day!**


	12. Charlene II

**Sorry for taking so long! But I hope this chapter is satisfactory enough to put some rumors to rest. **

**Here's chapter 12! Charlene's POV**

* * *

Chapter 12: Charlene Turner II-Free Day

8 A.M.

Charlene had sat in the hospital until seven the next morning. She couldn't bring herself to leave her hospital room. She was too afraid. Jelly called Maybeck back at eleven last night, but he promised to be back early this morning. So far he wasn't keeping up on his promise.

She was left alone when her worst nightmare came back to life last night. And now she was going to be left alone when her biggest fear was going to be possibly confirmed. Why does fate have to be cruel like that?

The nurse came in with a folder of papers, mostly insurance forms, but some had test results: important test results.

"Miss Charlene Turner, correct?" The nurse's voice told it all: she had been there all night, and Charlene was her last patient. The last thing the nurse wanted was for Charlene to have anything wrong with her. She wanted to go home and sleep, well frankly, so did Charlene.

"Yes, ma'am," Charlene addressed the nurse in a polite manner.

"I've got your test results. The ones that you requested be reported this morning just before you leave?"

Charlene nodded slowly. The next few seconds could changer her life forever.

The nurse looked down at the folder and flipped through a few pages. She looked back up at Charlene. "It says here that you're not pregnant."

Charlene let out a huge sigh of relief. She jumped up and hugged the nurse. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"You're welcome?"

Charlene let go of the nurse and sat back down on the edge of her bed. "Sorry," she mumbled without looking the nurse in the eye. "I…I'm just excited about the news, a little too excited probably."

"That's fine, sweetie. We have teenage girls come in here all the time. I'm glad to know that you're not having a baby. The last thing we need is another unprepared mom in the world."

Charlene glanced over to the nurse and smiled. She felt like there was a back story behind her comment, but Charlene was too happy about the news to ask.

"Now about your wrist, you'll need to use it as little as possible."

"But I'm on the gymnastics team, I can't just _not_ use my wrist."

"Sweetie, you won't be practicing for at least a month, probably more if you try to do so."

Charlene's eyes went wide. "A MONTH? But…but…the Olympic trials are in 3 weeks! I have to be there!"

"I'm sorry sweetie, but you should have thought about that before you broke your wrist!"

Charlene stood up, now she was furious. "I didn't wake up that morning and decide 'Hey, I want to break my risk today and ruin my Olympic dreams!'"

"I'm sorry, Charlene, but if you ever want your wrist to heal, you're going to have to stop practicing for at least a month."

Charlene stood there and watched as the nurse left the room. She stopped at the doorway and turned around for one last comment. "You're free to leave as soon as you've got all of your things, Miss Turner."

And with that, the nurse was gone, taking her Olympic dreams with her.

* * *

Charlene wasn't sure how long she had been standing there, holding back tears, before Maybeck showed up.

"Hey Char—what's wrong?"

He walked up to her and she sank down onto the hospital bed. He put a hand on her shoulder as he sat next to her.

"I'm out for a month of practice."

"Okay, no big. You've got, what, two months 'til the Olympics?"

"Yeah, but trials are in 3 weeks! I won't be able to compete! I won't be able to go! I'll be kicked off the team!"

Charlene turned to Maybeck and buried her head into his chest. Without saying a word, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight as she cried.

He cleared his throat and started to talk. "I know this is a big deal for you, Charlene, but there's always next time, right? Things like this happen all the time."

"I guess so…I just didn't think it'd hurt this much."

"It's always going to hurt when you realize your dreams are crushed."

Charlene got up and grabbed her purse. "Let's get out of here."

"Sounds good enough to me. Last night was creepy enough." He shivered.

_Last night?_ Charlene wondered. _What if he saw the same thing as me?_

"Last night?" She asked. She tried not to show any fear in her voice. "What happened last night?"

Maybeck looked down at the floor. "Uh…I just saw somebody I wasn't expecting…that's all."

"Maybeck…" She wanted him to look her in the eye, but she wasn't having any luck.

"Maybeck, look at me."

He took a deep breath and looked up at her.

"Did you see Maleficent too?"

Maybeck's eyes went wide. "So she _was_ here! I knew it! I knew I saw her!"

"But…she's dead Maybeck. How could we have both seen her?"

"I have no idea, but at least I'm not crazy."

"Or we're both insane," Charlene countered. Maybeck gave her a smile and kissed her on the cheek.

"I already know you're crazy. It's me I was worried about."

Charlene punched his arm with her left hand, which didn't do as much damage. _Stupid broken right wrist_.

Instead of retaliating like he usually did, Maybeck just laughed.

"Come on blondie. Let's get you out of here."

"Wait…what are we going to do about…" Charlene lowered her voice. "Maleficent?"

Maybeck shrugged. "I don't know. Let's tell the others. I'm sure Finn will have some kind of idea."

* * *

5 P.M.

"So what's so urgent?" Philby asked Willa. Willa turned to Maybeck and Charlene.

"Uh...we got some weird news Phildweeb," Maybeck began. "You might want to sit down for this one."

"What's going on?" Philby asked the group. Charlene kept tapping her foot. She didn't want to talk about this again, but it became necessary at this point.

"Charlene? _You_ want to start?" Jess asked her in an annoyed tone of voice. Jess took the news the hardest, unless you forget Finn. Jess looked as if she wanted to rip Charlene and Maybeck's head off.

"Uh…okay…" Charlene looked at Philby, who was now sitting in a chair next to Willa. "Philby, last night at the hospital I…uh…saw Maleficent. She walked by my hospital door at least twice."

Philby said nothing, but his expression turned sour. He looked to Willa for answers, but she obviously had none.

"I saw her too," Maybeck chimed in. "She is very much alive. Still freezes everything, still creepy as ever."

"Impossible! Finn killed her last year!" Philby turned to Finn, but again received no answers. Finn hadn't said a word since Charlene had told him ten minutes ago when he had arrived.

Finn took a deep breath and walked out of the kitchen. He didn't look like he was feeling well. Charlene felt bad for him. She didn't want to ruin his day, but it was news she couldn't keep from him either.

Amanda gave the group a _sorry, I've got to take care of him_ look and scurried off after him.

"You saw her in the hospital?" Philby asked Charlene. "What on earth were you doing there?"

Instead of responding, Charlene held up her right wrist, showing off her new cast.

"What happened?"

"Greg happened," Maybeck replied. It was obvious by his tone of voice that he was still raging mad at Greg, despite the fact that he is dead.

Philby and Willa exchanged a look. It dawned on Charlene that Philby knew something but he wasn't sharing, probably because Willa thought he was crazy for doing it.

"I…uh…" Philby turned to Charlene and Maybeck for help. "I believe you. She's definitely still around."

"WHAT?" Charlene and Maybeck said at the same time. Nobody had flat out said they believed them. Philby was the last person Charlene was expecting to agree with them.

"I overheard Jeanie and Spencer talking in the RaceTrac earlier today and they were alluding to her a lot."

"Did they say her name?" Charlene asked.

"Not exactly, but it was obvious. I don't think Jeanie or Spencer know who they're working for."

"Do they have green eyes?" Maybeck asked in a serious tone. All joking was aside now.

"I didn't get a close enough look. But they said that in return for helping her they would get what they wanted most."

"Which is…?" Maybeck motioned for him to continue.

Philby took a deep breath. "Jeanie wants Finn and Spencer wants Willa."

Willa rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

"And you think they're working for Maleficent?" Charlene asked.

"Who else would they be working for? They mentioned that they were working for the same person as Greg was. And we all know who that was."

A few minutes of silence fell over the group.

"So she's back?" Willa asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes." Jess replied. It stunned Charlene that Jess was even talking right now. She had been so quiet during the rest of the meeting. "Greg warned me of that the day that he died."

"And now seeing her at the hospital only means one thing…" Maybeck began.

"Maleficent is coming back for all of us." Philby finished.

* * *

**So...what do y'all think? I'd love to read them in a review. I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can (but my other multi-chapter will be updated first, just as an FYI). **

**I hope y'all enjoyed this short but plot-twisting chapter. Enjoy your weekend!**


	13. Finn II

**Sorry it took me so long to update. It's been quite the busy week! BUT don't despair, I've got you chapter 13! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as all of the others! :)**

* * *

Chapter 13: Finn Whitman II-Free Day

10:40 A.M.

When Amanda left with Marcus to go to the grocery store, Finn didn't know what to do. He finished cleaning up their mess from breakfast. He watched called his mom, just to check up on her. He wasn't sure how long Amanda and Marcus were going to be gone. He was planning on leaving after breakfast, but he wanted to be here when they got back—however long that took.

He plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV. On the coffee table, he saw Marcus' cell phone lying there out in the open.

Finn held it in his hands, deciding whether or not he should even bother looking through it. Something about Marcus seemed fishy. He didn't want to stoop to such a low level, but something inside of him urged him to do it. It was almost as if he was trying to convince himself that going through someone's phone was a good, necessary idea. Finn would never do that to Amanda, because he trusted her. But he didn't trust Marcus, was that justification enough?

Finn took a deep breath and turned his head to see if Jess had woken up yet, but of course she hadn't.

Finn looked back at the phone and pressed a button. The screen illuminated, but didn't ask him for a password.

Finn looked through the phone calls, but none of the numbers were saved. His contact list only consisted of about three people: "work," Domino's and a contact labeled "her."

Finn really wanted to call "her" but if she was who he thought she was, he definitely did _not_ want to call that number.

Finn went through the text messages and saw something else altogether.

One text conversation from "her" immediately drew all of Finn's attention.

**Her: Draw the victim out from hiding. I will dispose of him then.**

**Marcus: What do I get in return?**

**Her: Exactly what I promised: Amanda.**

**Marcus: Tell me where you want him, and I'll deliver.**

**Her: Alley behind Frozen Marble, midnight.**

**Marcus: Done.**

Finn really stopped caring after the third text message.

What did Marcus want with Amanda? He was Jess' older brother. It didn't make any sense. Did he want to hurt her? Amanda had mentioned knowing all about him selling drugs illegally. Did that have anything to do with it?

Finn slammed the phone shut. He didn't want to read any more. He fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed Amanda's number. He wanted her as far away from him as possible. _Now_.

He was about to hit the call button when Jess walked into the room.

"Morning," she murmured as she walked into the kitchen, grabbing a box of cereal. She didn't even bother to grab a bowl. She plopped herself down on the couch next to Finn and shoved her hand into the box of cereal, eating it with her hands.

"Amanda's going to kill you when she comes back." Finn commented. "You know she hates it when you eat cereal with your hands."

Jess rolled her eyes and reached for the TV remote with her free hand. "It's half my house too. If I'm too lazy to grab a bowl and pour milk, so be it."

Finn rolled his eyes. He knew better than to start a fight with Jess when she was tired.

Jess saw Marcus' phone lying on the coffee table.

"Who's phone is that?"

"Uh…mine."

Jess glared at him. "Your phone is in your lap Finn."

"Oh," Finn glanced down and saw that she was right. He mentally slapped himself. "It's Amanda's?"

Jess rolled her eyes and focused on the television. "Whatever. Where's she anyway?"

"Grocery store."

"She went two days ago. Why the heck is she going today?"

Finn shrugged. He needed to change the subject so Jess didn't start asking questions he couldn't answer. "I don't know."

"Then why are _you_ here then?"

"I can't be here to hang out with you?"

Jess snorted. "You spent the night, didn't you?"

Finn shrugged. "It got late."

"Sure…whatever. If she gets pregnant, don't think I won't say I told you so."

Finn rolled his eyes. They hadn't done anything, Jess just liked being annoying about it. He had been dating Amanda since freshman year of high school, almost four years ago, so he had gotten used to her annoying little sister.

"Any news from the police about Greg?"

Finn shook his head.

"You didn't kill him, right?" She asked him. Finn snapped his head in her direction.

"You seriously think _I_ did it?"

"No! Of course not! I was just wondering! Amanda said you two had a fight that night, and you _did_ kill Maleficent, so it's not like you killing people is anything new—"

"Shut up Jess."

"I'm just saying—"

"I'm not a killer, so shut up."

"Whatevs."

Jess glanced down at his phone, checking the time.

"Oh crap," Jess stood up and started to clean up her mess.

"Where are you going?"

"I told Willa we were going to hang out today at eleven." Jess scurried out of the living room to her bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Finn glanced down at his phone with curiosity. He saw that it was 10:45 A.M. and started laughing. _Leave it up to Jess to be late._

* * *

2:30 P.M.

Amanda checked her phone and scowled at the time.

"I've got to go. If I'm going to get to that meeting at the station on time."

She turned to Finn and gave him a strange look.

"Are you two going to be okay here alone?"

"Sure thing baby cakes," Marcus said with a wink. Finn felt his anger growing inside of him. He had been making strange remarks like that all day and Finn had had enough. But he wanted to talk to Marcus alone, so he let it slide this time.

Amanda rolled her eyes and grabbed her purse. Even though it was her apartment, Finn walked her to the door.

"Call me when you're done?" He asked her.

She gave him a weak smile. "Of course. Don't hurt Marcus."

Finn pretended to be saddened by that, for comic relief, but in reality he wanted to punch Marcus' face in. "You take all the fun out of everything."

"You sound just like Jess."

"Oh, that's even _worse_."

Amanda leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him. He remembered the first few months of their relationship, when she had been taller than him. Over the past four years he had grown to be at least a head taller than her. He thought it was cute that she had to get on her tiptoes to kiss him.

She ended the kiss and gave him a smile. "I should be back soon."

"I'll miss you," Finn kissed her once more, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She ended the kiss, putting her hands on his chest as to push him off of her. "I've really got to go now, Finn. I can't be late."

"I know, I know."

She opened the door and Finn snatched one last kiss on the cheek. He winked at her and she blushed. He felt proud of himself that he could still make her blush after four years.

He made sure she got out of the driveway okay and closed the door. He turned around and saw that Marcus had made himself home already, watching some dumb show on TV.

Finn walked over to the TV and stood in front of it.

"Whoa bro! What are you doing?" Marcus yelled.

"You need to explain those texts on your phone."

"You went through my phone?"

"It says in there you want Amanda. What does that mean?"

Marcus stared at him for a few seconds before calming down. He let out a quick laugh. "Who doesn't want her, man? She's hot."

Finn resisted punching him in the face. He was _going _to be the better person. "She's my girlfriend. Don't you dare talk about her like that."

Marcus completely ignored that comment. "She was just as hot five years ago too. Man, I wanted nothing more than to spend a night with her, if you know what I mean."

Finn's hand started shaking. He clenched them into fists so that Marcus couldn't see.

"Oh, who am I kidding? You know what I'm talking about! You two have been together for four years. _Of_ _course_ you know what I'm talking about!"

"You're twenty-six! Get over yourself! She's nineteen!"

"So? She's not in high school anymore. It's perfectly normal."

"She's my _girlfriend._ You lay a hand on her and I swear—"

"You'll do what? Kill me?" Marcus laughed. "Let me guess, Greg did the same thing. He made a move on your girl and now he's dead."

"I didn't kill Greg!"

"Sure…" Marcus stood up. Finn was glad the coffee table was between them.

"You're going to get out of here and leave now. And if you ever try to make contact with Jess or Amanda again, you'll regret it."

"Oh, is that all you've got?" He gave him a challenging look. "Look, man, it's cool that you like Amanda a lot and everything, but she's nothing like you. She's more like me. She doesn't deserve a goody-two-shoes guy like you. She needs a rough guy like me...a troublemaker, per se. She can't handle being good. She's a naughty girl who's done _bad_ things."

His grin was unnerving to Finn.

"She deserves the best! She's the best thing that's ever happened to me! I will not stand here and let you continue to put her down like that!"

Marcus spread out his arms. "What are you going to do about it?"

Finn lunged at him, knocking him onto the couch. He got one good punch to the face before a shriek stop them both cold in their tracks.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING FINN?"

Finn jumped off of Marcus and saw Jess standing there in the doorway, staring at her with wide, shock-filled eyes.

"Jess, he…he was saying crap about Amanda…"

"Who is _he_?"

Marcus sat up, saw Jess and another wily grin grew on his face.

Jess froze. "Y-y-you!"

"Hey there little sis."

"But you're dead! Amanda said you were dead!"

"So I've heard."Marcus looked back at Finn as to say _can you believe these girls?_

"Finn…why are you punching m-m-my...brother?"

"Like I said, he was saying crap about Amanda."

Jess' shocked expression turned to pure rage. She walked up to Marcus and slapped him.

"Don't you dare even look at Amanda ever again! Not after what happened five years ago!"

Marcus stared back at her with confusion. "She _told_ you?"

"She didn't have to! I might have been thirteen, but I'm not stupid!"

Marcus continued to give her the deer-in-the-headlights look.

"What's going on?" Finn asked. "What happened between you and Amanda?"

"He had an _unhealthy_ thing for her!"Jess pointed at him accusingly. "And I'm guessing he still does! You better leave before she gets here! If she sees you…"

"They've already talked," Finn added softly.

"WHAT?" Jess slapped Marcus again. "GET OUT!"

"It's not your apartment!"He protested.

"It's half mine, thank you very much!" Jess pointed to the door. "NOW GET OUT!"

Marcus scrambled to his feet and hurried for the door, grabbing his phone on the way out.

After he slammed the door shut, Jess and Finn stared at each other in silence for a few minutes.

"Did he…you know…_do_ anything to her?" Finn asked in a shaky voice.

Jess hung her head. "No, but he tried…a lot."

Jess' phone rang.

"I…uh…I've got to take this." Jess put the phone to her ear, stepping out of the apartment to answer the call.

Finn sat back down on the couch and stared at the TV. He didn't say anything. His mind was on overdrive, trying to process everything that had just gone on.

* * *

4:30 P.M.

"So why did they want you to come in?" Finn asked his beautiful girlfriend.

They were driving from her apartment to Charlene's house, where Willa had called a last-minute emergency keeper meeting. Even though Willa didn't specify why they were meeting, Finn was pretty sure he had a pretty good idea.

"They asked questions about Marcus…at first…"

"Then what?"

She hesitated before answering. He reached over with his right hand and placed his hand on top of hers. She seemed to relax a little after that.

"They showed me a forensics report. It basically…" she took a deep breath. "It basically had enough evidence to incriminate Greg's murderer."

"They think _you _did it? That's ridiculous! You were with me all night!"

"Not me, Finn." She took another deep breath. "You."

"Me?"

"Yeah."

A few minutes of silence dawned on the couple. Finn tried to let the news sink in. The police were about to arrest him for a murder he didn't commit. Who would frame him for something like that?

At first, no one came to mind, but then the light bulb went off over his head.

"I think Maleficent is coming back."

"Excuse me?" Amanda turned to face him.

"It only makes sense. When we all shared our stories of our encounters with Greg…"

"You can't be serious."

"We can't just forget all about her! It's very possible that she is alive!"

"Finn…"

Her voice trailed off as they pulled up to Charlene's house.

* * *

5:05 P. M.

"Uh…okay…" Charlene looked at Philby, who was now sitting in a chair next to Willa. "Philby, last night at the hospital I…uh…saw Maleficent. She walked by my hospital door at least twice."

Philby said nothing, but his expression turned sour. He looked to Willa for answers, but she obviously had none.

"I saw her too," Maybeck chimed in. "She is very much alive. Still freezes everything, still creepy as ever."

"Impossible! Finn killed her last year!" Philby turned to Finn, but again received no answers. Finn hadn't said a word since Charlene had told him ten minutes ago when he had arrived.

Finn took a deep breath and walked out of the kitchen. He couldn't believe this was actually happening. Maleficent was back. It was official.

He sat down on the bottom step of the staircase and put his head in his hands. He was trembling with fear.

_This cannot be happening. She's dead. _

He felt a hand on his back. She knew immediately it was Amanda's. He picked up his head and looked at her.

"Finn, I'm sorry I didn't believe you earlier." She reached up and wiped a stray tear from his cheek. "I should have known better than to believe that we were rid of her forever. People like us weren't meant to have happily ever afters, I guess."

Hearing her say that broke his heart. He took a deep breath and realized what a horrible boyfriend he had been. If she couldn't believe that they would have a great future ahead of them, what was he doing? He was wasting his time.

"Amanda," He placed a hand under her chin and gently raised her head so that they were at eye level. "Don't you ever think like that. You deserve the best happily ever after of them all."

She gave him a weak smile and kissed him on the cheek. "You deserve one too. If she's really back, you'll just have to defeat her again, right?"

"As long as you're by my side, _we_ will get rid of her. You're staying, right?" He returned a smile.

"I'm never leaving you, Finn. I guess you're stuck with me." She winked and he pulled her in for one quick kiss.

"I love you, Amanda."

"I love you too."

* * *

**Hmm...so Finn's their number one suspect? Anybody surprised? I mean, Greg and Finn weren't exactly BFF's...**

**So, just as a heads up this story has 1-2 more chapters (depending on how long the ending turns out to be). "Born for the Sunrise" also only has 1-2 more chapters left too. After that, I'll be focusing on REBEL and it's going to be EPIC! I'm so excited :)**

**Please review! How have y'all liked this story? So on a serious note, if anyone would like to take this idea and expand on it and make it their own awesome little story, please do! I'd love to read it! This story ended up being shorter than I wanted, so I'd love to see somebody take it and run with it! **

**Have a wonderful week! :)**


	14. Proclaimed Savior

**Alright guys here's the finale of Whodunnit! It kind of jumps around a little in point of view, but I still think it's a good ending. For those of you who read "Rebel," I think you'll appreciate it.**

* * *

Chapter 14: The Proclaimed Savior

"You get the call too?" Jake asked Alyssa as he walked into the chief's office.

Alyssa nodded. Jake sat down in the chair next to her. There was a moment of silence between them before she spoke in a quiet voice, so that they wouldn't be overheard.

"It's been three days, why hasn't he allowed us to arrest Finn yet?"

Jake shrugged. "Don't know."

"It doesn't make any sense. We've got all the evidence to convict him. Why the wait?"

"God only knows," Jake commented.

The chief walked in and both of them straightened up.

"Morning McAlister, Stanford."

"Morning Chief," both of them replied in unison.

The chief sat down in his chair and placed a file down on top of the desk.

"We need to call off the Luowski investigation."

"WHAT?" Alyssa protested. "We've got our guy!"

"All we need to do is arrest him!" Jake finished.

The chief raised his hand and both of them shut up. "I'm closing the case."

"But sir, don't we get to at least know why?"

"We need to find out what happened to Greg! It's only fair to him!" Alyssa protested some more.

"End of discussion. Head back to your desk. You two are getting the rest of the week off as compensation for working on this case."

Jake and Alyssa both stared at him with wide eyes and mouths open. The chief looked up at them and Jake noticed his green eyes.

_That's strange,_ Jake thought to himself. _I could have sworn the chief had brown eyes._

"Goodbye McAlister and Stanford."

Alyssa and Jake exited the room. When they both made it back to their adjacent desks, they both stayed in silence while they packed up their things.

Alyssa looked over at Jake with a confused look. "Do you understand—"

"No," Jake shook his head. "Not a clue."

"But at least we get the rest of the week off."

"Yeah," Jake put his laptop in his briefcase. "What are you going to do?"

"Uh…I guess I could go to the beach for a few days."

"My aunt's got a beach house," Jake offered. "She doesn't use it in the summer. Something about too many people…" He waved off the long explanation of his crazy aunt.

Alyssa raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking me to go to the beach with you?"

Jake winked at her. "Only if you're planning on saying yes."

Alyssa considered it. Jake really, _really_, hoped she said yes.

"I think I could deal with you for a few days at the beach." Alyssa winked and Jake's heart skipped a beat.

"I'll pick you up at five then?" He asked her.

Alyssa nodded and leaned over, kissing him on the cheek. "Can't wait," she whispered into his ear.

* * *

"Thanks for taking me out tonight, Philby." Willa said as Philby opened the restaurant door for her. "I'm glad we finally got to hang out, just the two of us."

"Me too," he gave her a smile as he grabbed her hand. Since the restaurant was only a ten minute's walk from Willa's house, they had walked there.

"Have I told you that you look beautiful tonight?" He asked her once they had left the restaurant behind.

Willa laughed and blushed. "Yes, every few minutes or so."

"Good, I hope it finally sinks in." He nudged her.

"Oh shut up," she nudged him back.

They walked some more, acting like your average obnoxious couple—holding hands, random kisses and what not. They couldn't do that around their friends without getting made fun of, so when they were alone, they always took advantage of it.

While waiting for an opportunity to cross the street, Philby leaned over and kissed Willa.

"I'm glad all of this Greg nonsense is over."

"Philby!" Willa punched him in the arm. "He's dead! You don't talk about the dead like that! The poor guy got murdered!"

"Poor guy?" He raised an eyebrow. "He's been nothing but trouble for us."

"Still, that doesn't excuse you from saying things like that! It's a tragedy that he got killed by…well…you know...Maleficent."

A chill went down Philby's spine. "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

They crossed the street. The wind picked up and he saw her start to shiver. He took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She gave him a quick smile before going deep in thought. Philby could tell that Willa was nervous about something. She was avoiding eye contact, as if she didn't want him to know.

"Willa, darling," he reached over and grabbed her hand. "What's wrong?"

"I just…I just feel bad about the whole Spencer ordeal."

"Don't be," He gave her hand a light squeeze.

Willa looked up at him with a confused expression. "Why not? He kissed me and he's been after me since high school. I can't imagine that being easy on you."

"Well who can blame him? You're the best girl around?"

Willa rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

"I'm not worried about Spencer. I know you don't like him, but he'll go away eventually."

Willa leaned into him—so close that holding hands was no longer possible. He let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist, keeping her that close.

"I guess you're right." A small smile grew on Willa's face.

He kissed her on the top of the head. "Of course I'm right. This is _me_ we're talking about."

Willa laughed and Philby held her closer. He completely understood why Spencer would have the hots for Willa. She was everything any guy could ever want. And the best part was that she was all his.

* * *

"I'm going to run up to the bathroom real fast." Maybeck said to Charlene before leaving the room.

He hurried up the stairs and did his business. But when he left the bathroom, he heard Charlene talking to someone else downstairs. It took him a second to realize it was Jess. Charlene had mentioned she was coming by later.

_I guess it's later_, Maybeck thought to himself. He got to the top step of the staircase and sat down so that he would be out of sight.

"So _that's_ why Willa was all jumpy the other day? She bought the box for _you_? That's low Charlene."

"I couldn't have anybody finding out it was _me_ that was pregnant! I'd be kicked off the team even if there was a suspicion!"

_PREGNANT? _Maybeck's eyes went wide as his mind ran through about a million different scenarios. All of them ending bad for him.

"You're off the team anyway, so what does it matter?"

"Oh _please_, Jess. Willa agreed to do it. If she had said no, I would have gotten it myself."

"That's because Willa's freakishly nice. Does Maybeck know?"

_No,_ Maybeck thought to himself. _I don't._

"No, he doesn't. I wanted to make sure it was legit before telling him."

"Are you…you know…pregnant?"

"No, thank goodness." Charlene let out a nervous laugh.

"Whew, dodged a bullet with that one, huh?"

"Yeah," Charlene paused. "Can you imagine how crazy our lives would be if I _was_ pregnant?"

Jess snorted. "You're telling me our lives aren't already crazy enough?"

"True, true." Charlene paused again. "Can we keep this between us girls? I'm assuming you're going to tell Amanda."

Jess laughed. "If I tell Amanda, she'll tell Finn. Then Finn will tell Philby and Maybeck. So…no, I won't be telling her. Unless you want me to…"

"No, that's okay. Let's just have us three know."

Maybeck closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. He wanted to make sure that it didn't seem like he was eavesdropping. The _last_ thing he wanted was that, now that he thought of it.

He stood up and headed down the stairs. Neither girls suspected a thing.

* * *

Ever since their meeting three days ago, Finn had become paranoid. He could barely sleep at night.

This night was somewhat different. He took Amanda out to dinner and went back to her place to watch a movie. Finn was so exhausted that he fell asleep during the movie.

Instead of waking up on the couch, he woke up inside Hollywood Studios.

He was utterly confused as to why he was here of all places. In the one or two times he had crossed over since defeating the Overtakers a year ago, it had always been Magic Kingdom. Never had it been one of the other parks. Hollywood Studios had become so unimportant to the Overtakers' plan that Finn almost forgot it even existed. _How embarrassing,_ he thought to himself.

He stood up and saw a girl standing in the distance. She had bright red hair that was pulled back into a pony tail. She was wearing a purple, strapless bathing suit top and bright green shorts. On her feet were purple flip-flops with a seashell pattern.

_Ariel_, Finn reminded himself.

She took a few steps toward him and a huge smile grew on her face.

"Oh my gosh! It worked! The others said I was crazy for trying, but Eric said it would work!" She clapped, as if congratulating herself.

"Ariel?" Finn gave her a confused look. "What's going on?"

Her giddy expression turned to a sour one rapidly. "Bad things are brewing here, Finn. I thought you should know."

"What kind of things?"

"I've heard rumors of Maleficent and Jafar working together. Snow White believes the Evil Queen is in on it too."

Finn let that sink in. _More Overtakers? Great!_ "I killed Maleficent last year. That's impossible."

Ariel gave him a sad smile. "You can't kill her. Well, I mean you _can_, but she'll just keep coming back."

"Then how can we get rid of her?"

Ariel looked away from him, deep in thought. "Eric said something…Oh I know!" She perked up and scurried off in the direction of Voyage of the Little Mermaid. She had almost disappeared when she turned around and waved Finn over.

Out of old habits, Finn stuck to the shadows—slowly making his way over to her so that he wouldn't draw a lot of attention.

Instead of going to Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Ariel led Finn to the Hollywood Tower of Terror.

Inside the lobby was a princess meeting, or at least that's how Finn saw it. Snow White, Cinderella, Princess Aurora, Megara, Rapunzel and Ariel all congregated in a circle, chatting away for a few seconds as if Finn didn't exist.

They finished and the group of princesses turned to him.

"Hello Finn," Rapunzel began. "We think we've got an idea on how to beat Maleficent and the others once and for all." She started twirling a frying pan in her hand. Finn made a quick mental note not to mess with her.

"Mind sharing that with me?" He asked, somewhat sarcastically. He didn't want to seem rude to a group of princesses, but his words came out that way. He braced himself for Rapunzel's frying pan, but fortunately for him she didn't bash his face in.

Aurora stepped forward. "Maleficent is a cruel person, that we all know." She paused and all of the princesses nodded. "But each time she comes back, she gets worse. If you thought the _last_ time was bad, you've only seen the beginning."

"So how can we beat her for good, if she can't be killed?"

Aurora glanced back at Megara, who stepped forward. She pulled out a small flask and handed it to him.

"This is a magical potion that can make you immune to any curse," Megara's fingers wrapped around his for a few seconds, closing his fingers around the flask tight. She let go and stepped back.

"Why do I need this? I need something that can kill Maleficent."

"That potion is the key," Cinderella chimed in from the back.

"Finn," Rapunzel reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "We fear Maleficent is working with other villains to create a curse to punish you and your friends. That potion will help you defeat her for all eternity."

Finn glanced down at the flask in his hands. A curse was coming? And this potion was the key to defeating Maleficent?

"But…this only helps _me_? What about my friends?"

The princesses exchanged grim looks. Ariel came forward from the back of the room. Finn noticed the fob in her hand. He knew he was about to be sent back to Amanda's apartment.

"Only you can use that potion, Finn. You're the one that's destined to save us for all eternity."

"But…what about my friends? What will happen to them?"

"You'll have to save them too," Snow White added.

"But we know you can do it," Aurora said with a smile.

"Yes, you're the savior," Cinderella proclaimed. "You will save your friends, all of us," she gestured to the princesses, "and the world."

Finn gulped. He thought all of this was over. Turns out, the worst was yet to come.

"So…I just _keep_ this with me?"

Ariel giggled. "I'd hide it. You won't be needing it for a few years."

"How come?"

"We've been doing our best to delay them. We'll keep doing that until it's too late." Megara stated in a small voice. "We're on your side, Finn. Remember this."

"And don't tell anyone!" Rapunzel said a little too loud. "You don't want to scare anybody!"

Finn nodded, his gaze lingering on the flask. The last thing he wanted was his friends to become as paranoid as he had been the past three days. This was a burden he would have to carry on his own.

"It's time for you to return, Finn," Cinderella said quietly. "But know that we will be working as hard as we can to delay the curse as long as possible."

Finn looked at each of the princesses before saying anything. He knew they weren't working alone, and he was glad. If he was going to have to defeat the Overtakers again, he would need them all on his side.

"Thank you." He said to the princesses. "Tell the others that too."

"We will," Ariel held up the fob. "Now, good night Finn. The next time we will see you will most likely not be until after the curse is broken."

"Good luck, savior." Snow White said with a beautiful smile. "You'll need it."

She pressed the button and Finn woke up in Amanda's apartment.

He was lying on the couch in front of the TV. He noticed that Amanda was gone. He looked over at the clock and saw that it was 3 in the morning.

Finn felt the flask in his pocket and decided to hide it now. He figured he might forget the hiding spot if he waited too long. He glanced in the direction of Amanda's bedroom, where she would be fast asleep. He knew he had to time this perfectly.

Finn got up quietly and went outside to his car, placing the flask in the cup holder. He turned on the car as quietly as he could and headed out of the driveway.

It took him at least thirty minutes, but it was worth the drive. His car sat in the parking lot as he called his lifeline, mentor, and friend.

* * *

It took Finn three times to get an answer, but it was well worth the agonizing wait. He stood at the gates as his friend opened them from the inside, allowing Finn to return to the place where his journey with the keepers began all those years ago.

The two hurried to his apartment and sat in the living room. Finn sat on the small couch and Wayne sat in a chair across from him, leaving the coffee table between them.

"I need you to hide this for me," Finn said as he handed the old man the flask.

"What is this?"

"It's a potion that'll keep me immune to Maleficent's upcoming curse."

"Ah," Wayne leaned back in his chair, examining the potion. "I heard such a thing was coming."

Finn leaned forward in his seat, clasping his hands together and resting them in between his knees. "Do you know anything about it?"

"No, sadly I do not. I only know that this will be your most difficult test yet."

Finn took a deep breath. He had a feeling Wayne would say something like that.

"How can I protect my friends if they're all under the curse?"

"That, Finn, will be up to you. I believe we'll need to know more about the curse before you can make that decision."

Finn took a deep sigh of frustration. He wanted to know what was coming _now_. "The princesses said it wouldn't be for a few years."

"And they would be correct in their assumptions." Wayne set the flask down on the coffee table in between the two of them.

"A few years can mean two or it can mean ten. How will we know when it's getting close?"

"You won't, unfortunately."

Finn nodded, as if accepting his abhorrent fate.

"I can do my best to figure out exactly what this curse entails, but I might not be able to warn you in time." Wayne leaned forward and studied the flask. "But I will use this and make you immune to the curse."

"Do I take it now?"

"No, no you must wait until the curse is here. Preferably before, but if you can't, taking it after will be okay too. This potion was specifically designed for you, Disney's savior."

Finn gulped. He hated being called a savior.

"You should go now," Wayne told him. "We both need our sleep."

Finn stood up and offered his hand for Wayne to shake, which he did. "Thanks Wayne, I owe you."

"If you truly save us all Finn, it'll be I that owe you."

Wayne gave him one quick nod before shuffling off to his bedroom, leaving Finn to show himself out.

* * *

Finn snuck back into Amanda's apartment and tiptoed to her room.

He slipped into the bed and wrapped his arms around her. He gave her one quick kiss on the cheek before attempting sleep again.

A terrible curse would be coming, but the flask would only make him immune to it. One day in the future, Finn would have to save all of his friends, the Disney characters everyone loves and the rest of the world. Holding Amanda in his arms, he felt more compelled to do so. He would have to fight for her when the curse came, and Finn knew he could do it.

It would be extremely difficult, but if it came to saving Amanda and his friends, taking the potion would be worth the risk.

He kissed her on the top of her head and fell asleep. It didn't matter what happened to Greg—even though he was almost one hundred percent sure it was Maleficent. What mattered was the curse to come.

Finn was the so-called "savior." He sure hoped he lived up to the name.

* * *

**So there's the ending! It's not the best ending ever, but it does work perfectly as a background for "Rebel," which I'm working on! I hope y'all enjoyed this story as much as I did! Have a wonderful weekend! :)**


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